An Ode to the Commode

I realize that an ode is a song, and I have not written a song. So, I apologize for the misleading title.

If you have been to our little house, you've witnessed the 70's-chic bathrooms that we have. The hallway bathroom is very yellow. Bathtub, counter, toilet, all covered in mustard. The master bathroom is yellow/green/brown/orange and...beautiful...? Such are the joys of a rental house! They function (now!) and do what they need to do, but don't quite compliment the pretty blue and brown towels that we registered for and were graciously given as wedding gifts.

The hallway bathroom's toilet hasn't worked correctly since we moved in. Odds are good that it was the original toilet installed when the house was built. It was a very temperamental toilet and seemed to have a mind of its own - "What? A piece of toilet paper? Let's overflow." Seriously. Every flush was a risk. It didn't just overflow a little, either.

It was also mustard yellow with a wooden lid/seat. Pretty.

But! It completely bit the dust a couple days ago. Jared tried everything he could, but just couldn't make it work right. We called the realty company, they called the landlord, the landlord called the plumber, and said they would come Monday. I was sitting on the couch busying myself on Pinterest and a couple of guys walked up on the back deck. My mind flashed to the P90x cardio workout where you punch and block and kick (I could easily defend myself against any weak person) but I didn't need to punch anybody. Hello, plumbers!

I was standing at the sink doing dishes and watching the front yard. Jared was sitting in the living room and said, "Well, there goes the toilet." Um, what? I looked back out the window, and there was our mustard toilet. Laying down in the grass. It looked sad, and it had met its demise.

I was glad that they took the toilet with them. I wasn't excited about a new lawn decoration.

To spare you the gory details...we got a new toilet! And guess what?

It's white!

I was afraid when they were working and relocated that basket that sits right above the toilet safely to our bedroom. I said, "Let me get this out of your way!" but really meant, "I don't want all of my perfume/hairspray/trusty blue hairbrush/Mary Kay" in the toilet. You know how it goes.

Welcome to the 21st century, hallway bathroom!

Disc Golf Monday

Monday is Jared's day off during the week, and yesterday was his first whole day off that he's had in the past couple of weeks! VBS ate up his day off last week, so we thought we'd do something fun together yesterday. Jared loves disc golf, so we went to the Highland Hills Disc Golf course in North Wilkesboro.

And whoa, my Rainbows were a bad choice! We had so much fun, but neither of us had on good shoes for the course. We weren't quite expecting the rough terrain and all the hills.

Every disc golf course I've been to (grand total: 1) was fairly flat, in a wide open field. It never occurred to me that disc golf would require spiked hiking boots, but perhaps I will be investing in some!

The steep hill to get to the first tee!

On the first hole, we learned that one of Jared's throws equals about 3 of mine. He might be a little stronger than me ;)

The sign says - "Hole #3 - up hill." I think they just spelled "mountain" wrong. Don't let the steps fool you - they stopped about halfway up and we were on the top of the mountain by the time it was all said and done!

There was a pretty stream on the course! I took a break on holes like this one, for fear that I would toss my disc into the stream and Jared would break a leg trying to get it out for me. Just looking out for him, of course.

Me and my hiking Rainbows on one of the bridges over the stream

A hanging basket!

Thank you, Bojangle's!

I didn't play on hole 16, either. It was conveniently located beside these huge things that were covered in "WARNING - HIGH VOLTAGE" signs. It became painfully obvious that I need disc-aiming practice, and I didn't feel like getting shocked yesterday. Or...ever.

Jared's best shot! Good job, hubby!

My best shot. Not even kidding - it lodged straight in to the log, which was easily 15 feet off course. It's okay to be impressed.

We had so much fun sweating and sliding down hills together. We were about to go to bed last night and we were discussing how fun the course was, and Jared said, "Next, we have to try the one in Ashe County!" He did that course once, and said it's not quite as intense as the Highland Hills course. Still, I think I'll be finding some hiking spikes for my flip flops :) I love taking new adventures together!

Gluten, what?

I haven't posted in forever! Or three months. Something like that.

The last month of school was crazy busy, and then we had VBS (which was FANTASTIC!) and here we are today, recovering from the awesome week we had at VBS.

I decided to write this evening as I am on a quest for advice :)

Jared and I were watching Dr. Oz the other day - great start to any story, right? - and he was discussing gluten intolerance/allergy/sensitivity. Jared said, "Sometimes I think that's what your problem is." I have had problems with my stomach for the past couple of years, and have recently started taking a medicine that has helped a LOT. I still have some minor issues, though, and we figured it must have to do with my diet...or lack thereof, if we're honest.

This is coming from the girl that should have been born Italian. As I write this, I think about the delicious bowl of pasta that I finished eating just a short time ago. What would have made that pasta better, you ask? Garlic bread, of course!

See my problem?

As I was stuffing pasta in my face, Jared and I decided that maybe doing a trial gluten-free (or low gluten, at the very least) diet for a month could help us decide if that's part of my problem. Just for kicks, we started researching (read: Googling) gluten-free diets and the foods that you should eat when trying to avoid gluten. Not even kidding, the author of the website should have just written: "Avoid the Beth Blair diet at all costs." Pasta, breads, crackers, cookies, all listed as violators...and all my favorites. No good.

So I looked at the next best thing - Pinterest! Searching "gluten-free recipes" brought up some images that closely resembled cardboard and they just made me sad.

So my question: Does anyone reading this partake in a gluten-free diet? Or have you tried any good gluten-free recipes? If anyone could point me towards a good resource for recipe ideas that don't look like packing materials, I would appreciate it a lot, and it would make our gluten-free trial diet a lot more fun!

Spring Break!

Today marks the start of spring break! We get tomorrow and alllllll of next week off. And it shall be glorious. 

School was a lot of fun today! We had a normal morning and had a party after lunch. My class and the fifth graders went to the Light House to play games, eat snacks, and to not do history. They loved it. We made s'mores using peeps in the place of typical marshmallows. Something about watching peeps semi-explode was strangely satisfying. Anyways, they were delicious and very springy! 

We've been talking about skeletons and joints, and did a fun science activity today.

They traced the outline of hand bones onto a glove, and a lot of them wore the gloves for the remainder of the day. They loved it, and I quote: "If I had to get a mechanical hand, it would look like this!"

I really enjoy cooking, but cooking with Jared is 10 times more fun than cooking by myself! By the time we are both home from work, it's easier and quicker if we work together. We tried a new dish tonight - I found the recipe here. It's called "Skinny Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo" and it was delicious! It was so much lighter than typical Alfredo pasta. Chicken Alfredo is always too rich for me, but this was great, thanks to the Greek yogurt that took the place of heavy cream. We highly recommend it if you like that kind of dish!

I hope all of you have a blessed Easter weekend. Remember the sacrifice that Christ made for us on the cross and enjoy your time spent with family! :)

St. Patrick's Day

Ready for a good history lesson?

Jared shared with me the story of St. Patrick last week and I did some of my own research on why we celebrate this day. Here is a summary of the story!

Saint Patrick was kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave. He escaped slavery eventually and went back home to Britain. He later returned to Ireland in the year 432 to serve as a missionary. Saint Patrick is credited with bringing Christianity to the pagan and polytheistic people of Ireland. Why is St. Patrick's day symbolized by a shamrock? St. Patrick used the clover as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity: Father, Spirit, and Son. Patrick died on March 17 in 461 after 30 years of ministry in Ireland and was recognized later as a Saint by the Catholic church.

I was surprised! Maybe I'm just out of the loop, but I don't know that I've ever actually heard the background of St. Patrick's Day.

I started thinking about the history behind this holiday and really just became sad - I don't know how else to put it. I got on Facebook last night and my news feed was full of pictures of green beer, people posting about bar crawls...

In memory of a missionary, drink green beer. Evangelist...green beer?

Is that weird to anybody else?

I am obviously not telling anyone how to or how not to celebrate Saint Patrick's day. That choice is left up to you. My only point is that, after really learning why we celebrate Saint Patrick's day, America's choice of celebrations ("copious consumption of alcohol," as Wikipedia puts it) just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

Then I started thinking about it even more...watch out!...and started considering Christmas and Easter. Again, everyone celebrates differently. I grew up with Santa and the Easter Bunny and would argue that I've turned out completely fine! They are fun traditions to hold to as a family chooses to, as long as they don't overshadow the true holiday. But as a society, how far have we come from the true meaning of these Christian holidays? Easter was the one that really got me. "Look kids, Easter! When you go to bed tonight, a 6-foot bunny is going to come put eggs in a basket for you!" Because, obviously, rabbits lay eggs. And a giant rabbit break and entering into your house isn't creepy at all (I had nightmares as a kid thanks to big brother Danny's stories of Easter...no joke!). And what exactly does that have to do with Jesus dying on the cross for the sins of a fallen world?

I'll be stepping off my soapbox now - for the six of you that will see this, thanks for listening! I simply felt lead to share my new understanding of St. Patrick's day, and perhaps a reminder to celebrate these holidays for what they are worth.

Culinary Treats

We got home a bit ago from worship band practice. Our electric guitar player was sharing with us what his six-year old grandson said to him while they were on a hike. The grandfather offered his grandson some trail mix as they took a break. The grandson held out his bag of marshmallows and said, "No thank you, but would you like one of my culinary treats?" Too funny!

I thought I would share a new "culinary treat" with you! Thanks to Pinterest, of course.

Do you like Reese's Cups?

Wait. Does anybody not like Reese's Cups?

This recipe was super easy, and I already had most of the ingredients at home (considering there are only a few, that's not a huge accomplishment). Click here to find the recipe!

The quick version: mix peanut butter, confectioner's sugar, butter (lots...and lots...of butter!), and graham cracker crumbs together. Put it in a pan, melt chocolate chips and more peanut butter together, spread that on top and bam. Done. We put it in the refrigerator before dinner, went to practice, and cut in to it as a healthy (ha) snack around 9:30. Nothing wrong with that, right? Of course!

It doesn't taste 100% like a Reese's Cup, but you obviously can't go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter.

In other news, I slept through my alarm this morning. Again. It's becoming a weekly thing for me - the pretty little song on my iPhone that used to wake me up has not quite been doing its job as of late. I'm afraid I'm going to have to upgrade to my grown-up alarm clock, lovingly known as the "honk clock." Seriously, this thing is gross. Pray for me and my morning tomorrow. :P

Strawwwwberries

One of my wonderful teacher friends pulled out a Tupperware container at lunch yesterday that was filled with delicious-looking strawberries and blueberries. She was sharing with me how both were on sale at Food Lion this week and how tasty they were for February strawberries. I told her we had actually bought some (at Walmart on Saturday...we just can't stay away from that place, sadly) and we started discussing Valentine's week and fruit. I've never thought about it, but it is pretty strange that fresh fruit goes in to hiding all winter and magically appears just for Valentine's Day. Conspiracy? Probably. :)

Conspiracy or not, we have a beautiful container of strawberries and Jared mentioned how much he loves strawberry cake...it's one of his favorites! My best friend Pinterest and I searched for strawberry cake recipes, and we teamed up with Paula Deen to make a tasty strawberry cake, and the icing to go on it!

We had a short time frame to bake the cake. I got home from school and the grocery store, and we were headed out to dinner and praise band practice in the next hour and a half or so. Jared helped by cracking the eggs (confession: egg-cracking scares me) and measuring out a lot of the ingredients to make it go quicker.

My kids asked what I did after school yesterday and I said, "we baked a cake!" They asked if Jared helped and I said he did help, by doing most of the measuring. A girl said, "What? But you taught us how to measure - you're a teacher!" True story. I did. :)

We stuck the icing in the refrigerator and I iced the cake after practice. We had a healthy (I mean...it's fruit, right?) 9:00 strawberry cake snack. And it was awesome.

Find the recipe here!

Strawberry cream cheese icing goodness :)
Pictured in back, Yoplait yogurt is on sale at Food Lion right now - I bought orange cream for the first time ever.  Life-changing.

The cooling cake!

The recipe wanted you to buy everything sugar free, such as the jam and the gelatin. I couldn't find any sugar free anything (read: I didn't look very hard for sugar free ingredients) so we loaded it up with sugary ingredients. It wasn't that bad...until the 24 pounds of powdered sugar we put in the icing. All in good taste, of course!