Just One More Day

We've all been there. We've all been through it. Whether you're a student, former student, or teacher, we all know how the routine goes the week before Spring Break. The kids are all out of sorts, dancing in the hallways, singing in tune, just like from High School Musical, right? Maybe not.

What is true, however, is that they are certainly hard to keep focused. Their minds are not on possessive nouns, figurative language, or finding the main idea. And it is like pulling teeth to get them to stay seated, be quiet, and put up their skateboarding magazine. As each tries to out-do the others' vacation plans, the more and more I just want to throw my hands up and say, "Class dismissed! Spring Break comes early this year!" But I can't. "One more day," I keep telling myself, "Just one more day!"

One poor decision that was made by the planning committee for the dates of Spring Break: The last day of school before Spring Break occurs on... APRIL FOOLS' DAY! Chaotic.

I really do love my job. I really do love my students. They really do bring joy to my life. But they also bring chaos, yelling, and a lot of frustration....any time a break approaches. It really isn't (all) their fault, I have to admit. I think my patience may be on edge due to the fact that I'm getting pretty darn antsy to get to spend a week with my hubby! Just one more day :)

That's Important to Me.

I would like to apologize for the brief laziness in blog-world lately. Staying busy in order to keep my mind off of the fact that my nights are spent alone, and not having TV to pass my time results in very boring blog posts when your time consists of working late, exercising, and sleeping on a co-worker's couch.

After two weeks of late night phone calls, calculating the time difference, and wishing my lovie was home, the time finally arrived and Justin was darkening my doorway on Friday at 10:20 pm EST.  Our weekend was a short and lazy one. We went antiquing for the better half of the morning, but then resorted back to the house once the thunderstorms crept in.

Loving and laughing, hugging and holding hands. One day is not long enough to spend with your better half. After a few hours little while of sulking, I found a beautiful song that describes my priorities, what is important to me, perfectly.  It made me smile, have a listen if you'd like:

"That's Important to Me"
                   Joey+Rory

Not planning our day around a TV set

Paying our bills and staying out of debt
That’s important to me
That’s important to me

Openin’ the windows and lettin’ in air
Holding hands when we’re saying a prayer
That’s important to me
Yea, that’s important to me

Having somebody to share my life
Loving my husband, and being a wife
And the very best mother I can be
That’s important to me

Telling the truth, and being real
Feeding my family a home cooked meal
That’s important to me
That’s important to me

Planting a garden and watching it grow
Keeping it country on the radio
That’s important to me
Yea, that’s important to me

Always having you to hold,
Being beside you when we grow old
And they plant us ‘neath that big old tree
That’s important to me

Always having you to hold
Being beside you when we grow old
And they plant us ‘neath that big old tree

Believing our dreams will take us somewhere
Still bein' ourselves if we ever get there
That’s important to me
That’s important to me
Yea, that’s important to me
That’s important to me

That’s important to me
That’s important to me

Cooking Like Grandma.

 I ventured home this weekend to ease the sting of loneliness and to spend some much needed time with my family. There were several items on the agenda for the weekend and very little time. So we had to prioritize the list: a cookout, haggling with Verizon for a new phone, going to a play, and learning to cook like my grandma!

 For years I have idolized my grandma for her cooking skills, but have always been a little disgruntled by the fact that she doesn't have any of her famous recipes written down. Just mix it until it looks right!

Well, this weekend changed all of that. My mom and I convinced her to let us help her make her scrumptious Chicken and Dumplings. While we were making them, we formulated a recipe.  We converted her special glass she uses to measure her milk and water into appropriate standardized units of measurement. And her handful of shortening...we measured that, too. I was able to witness first hand the proper consistency, how to cut the dumplings, and when to drop them in the broth.

I learned a lot, but the true test of the recipe will be when I try to make them by myself.... it may take several attempts. The next recipe to document: Homemade Biscuits! Yum!

To make sure the recipe is replicable, I will share it after I attempt to make them. :)

Welcome to the Last Name!

Dear Megan,

I thought the title was appropriate considering you've been like family for a lot longer than me! :) I just wanted to write a quick note to express the joy Emily, Brii, and I feel that you are officially our sister! You're a very special person with a big heart, and we are thrilled to call you family!

Here are a few pictures from your very special weekend. Thank you for letting us be apart of your beautiful day!

Gabriela, with Nathan and Lillian in the background)

The Stricklands

Travis, Brii, and Baby!

Photoshoot.

I loved this picture. We had so much fun at ya'll's reception.

Get down, Aunt Jody!

Beautiful Couple!

The reception wore Gabriela out!

 Welcome to the Tyson name! We love you!

-Casie

Rain.

As I sit down to write, I suddenly can't calm my brain down enough to think of just one topic to blog about. Lovie is leaving. Things are crazy at work. The house needs to be cleaned. It's raining. In the midst of what seems like complaining I realize, maybe everything is falling into place perfectly. Lately, around our household, life has seemed quite surreal. Anticipating so much change, but not being able to prepare anymore for it has been a struggle, too. The time has come, and so has the rain.

Sometimes we all dread the rain, but we know that it will bring greenery and flowers, and it will be followed by sunshine and warmth.  As some sadness begins to creep in, I'm embraced by the thought of spring, new life, and possibilities.  Justin's leaving is similar to the rain. We're going to be lonely and we know that the next three months will be difficult, but in the end what hurts now will only bring us closer, more united, as we fall deeper in love.  We are excited about the future that awaits us when I join him in Mississippi.

Escaping to the City.

We're not city people, really, but we've got to admit, we do find pleasure and relaxation in staying on the 56th floor of the Peachtree Plaza with a view like this:

Since last weekend was, well, our last weekend before Justin leaves to begin his new job in Mississippi, we decided to make a short getaway to Atlanta. It's always hard to relax and focus on each other when we stay at home on the weekends because there's always so much to do around the house. So, off we went for two luxurious nights in the second-tallest hotel in the western hemisphere.

Our agenda for the weekend consisted of doing...nothing. Mostly. We did wander about a mile down International Boulevard to see the Georgia Aquarium, but it was lunchtime when we got there, so we first stopped for a bite at Johnny Rocket's diner. We were both very impressed with the aquarium, but it was packed full, so we only stayed for an hour and a half. Later that night, Justin treated me to my first churrascaria, or Brazilian steakhouse, where we ate ourselves sick on filet mignon, sirloin, bacon-wrapped chicken, sausage, and all other manner of heart attack-inducing goodness.

On Sunday, we slept in as late as we possibly could before making our way back to North Augusta. It was a lazy, renewing, just-what-we-needed weekend :)

Our personal tabletop jukebox

I had miniature hotdogs for lunch and couldn't resist a picture!

Weedy sea dragon

Lionfish. Roar.

The saucer magnolias we just starting to bloom!

One of the most impressive displays of pansies we'd ever seen (with our hotel in the background).

The Perfect Pizza Dough.

This is less of a blog entry, and more of a notification of the fact that Justin and I have discovered the PERFECT pizza dough recipe. We have been making homemade pizza quite regularly over the past year, and we’ve tried many different recipes for dough. They were all pretty good, but none of them were better than what we could get at Pizza Hut. Most of the recipes called for bread flour, but because Wal-Mart and Bi-Lo don’t carry bread flour (and that’s where we do 99% of our grocery shopping) we always ended up substituting all-purpose flour instead. I finally found the right stuff at Kroger about a month ago, but we waited a while before putting it to the test.

When Justin suggested homemade pizza today after I got off work, I have to admit that I wasn’t terribly excited, since I was already hungry and I knew that it would take at least a couple of hours for the dough to rise. It was past 8 PM by the time the pizza was finally ready, but after one bite we both knew that it was worth the wait. We had found the perfect pizza dough!

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tablespoons yeast
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In A Food Processor
2. In A Bread Machine
3. By Hand
4. Three choices in mixing your dough: Mixing Pizza Dough in a Food Processor: Some Food Processors come with a dough blade. If you have it use it. If you don't, just use the standard cutting blade. My dough blade broke from over use (some would call it pizza abuse, but that's another story) and the regular blade works fine.
5. Pour in warm water. The water should be about 85 to 115° F. Test it with your hand. It should feel very warm, but comfortable.
6. Add the honey and salt. Mix on low for about 20 seconds.
7. Add the yeast and mix on low for another 5 seconds.
8. Add 1 cup of flour, mix on low for 10 seconds.
9. Add the olive oil and mix until blended (about 15 or 20 seconds more).
10. Add the rest of the flour (and any other additions) and mix on high for about a minute or two. The dough should turn into a ball and roll around the processor. If the dough does not ball up because it's too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does. If your mixture is more like a batter, add flour one tablespoon at a time. Adding water or flour as needed to get the right consistency will assure you always get a perfect dough. Just remember to do it in small amounts.
11. Once the dough is balled up, place the ball on a floured board and knead for about a minute. This builds the gluten which helps the dough to rise and become fluffy when cooked. Place the dough in a plastic grocery bag or a covered bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise.
12. After about 45 minutes the dough should have about doubled in size.
13. 8. Show it who's the boss and punch it down. That's right, give it a good smack so it deflates. Let it rise for another hour to an hour and a half. The dough is now ready to be rolled out. You can punch the dough down one more time if you want and wait another hour or two before rolling out. The choice is yours.
14. You're now ready for the next step: Rolling out the dough.
15. NOTE: This dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or so, or even frozen. Be sure to let the dough come to room temperature before using.
16. Throw all the ingredients in, set to dough only setting, push start and walk away. That's it! No work, no hassle. If you don't work for something is it really worth having? In this case, you bet!
17. Once the machine "beeps" and your dough is ready, it's time to go on to the next step - Rolling Out The Dough.
18. To Mix Pizza Dough in a Bread Machine:
19. NOTE: This dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or so, or even frozen. Be sure to let the dough come to room temperature before using.
20. Pour warm water into a bowl. The water should be about 85 to 115° F. Test it with your hand. It should feel very warm, but comfortable.
21. Add the honey and salt. Mix by and hand (or any other method) until well blended.
22. Add the yeast and mix some more. Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes.
23. Add 1 cup of flour and the olive oil and mix until well blended.
24. Add the rest of the flour (and any other additions) and mix well. The dough should turn into a ball. If the dough does not ball up because it's too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does. If your mixture is more like a batter, add flour one tablespoon at a time. Adding water or flour as needed to get the right consistency will assure you always get a perfect dough. Just remember to do it in small amounts.
25. Once the dough is balled up, place the ball on a floured board and knead for about a minute. This builds the gluten which helps the dough to rise and become fluffy when cooked. Place the dough in a plastic grocery bag or a covered bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise.
26. After about 45 minutes the dough should have about doubled in size. Show it who's boss and punch it down. That's right, give it a good smack so it deflates. Let it rise for another hour to an hour and a half. The dough is now ready to be rolled out. You can punch the dough down one more time if you want and wait another hour or two before rolling out. The choice is yours. You're now ready for the next step: Rolling out the dough.

In case you’re wondering, the toppings we used were: a thin coat of tomato pesto; pepperoni, Canadian bacon, and banana peppers; and a healthy topping of Monterey Jack and Colby cheese. We popped the pizza in the oven at 450 degrees for about 12 minutes, then brushed a mixture of melted butter, olive oil, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning onto the crust. It was even better than it looks!

Wanderings.

Justin and I spent the past weekend in Colbert, GA visiting my father-in-law. While they spent a Saturday working on bookshelves for Mr. Tony's living room, I wandered around the farm enjoying the 70 degree weather and giving my camera a good workout. 

Bess wanting a nose rub.

Sadie got jealous.

Nose rub for me, too!

Mr. Tony calls the goats Laverne and Shirley.

I cannot repeat what Nathan calls them. :)

Being artistic with some broomsedge.

The daffodils are just starting to bloom.

A beautiful day!

I headed to the house as the shadows grew longer...

...and I helped myself to Mr. Tony's stack of family recipes! :)