haphazard musings

weekly meals

so like i promised, here is more on the meals that I have been making on Sunday's to make my life easier during the work week.

so two of the meals are ones that i got from Ryan's grandma. 

she's a comfort food kinda gal. and we like that around here. :)  plus these are meals that ryan grew up on and he L-O-V-E loves them.  saddly i have no pictures - sorry.  but here are the recipes, from the church cookbook (church cookbooks are how we roll in this house and you should consider it). 

the first is Pizza Casserole.  i've had rave reviews from adults and 3 year olds alike.  the 3 year old exclaimed, "this is the best pizza i ever ate." 

so ingredients:
12 oz bag egg noodles - i use no yolks, because my mom did...
2 lbs hamburger
1/2 c. onion
3 cloves garlic finley chopped
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 cans tomato sauce
2 palmfuls italian seasoning
8 oz. mozzarella cheese
pepperoni
(+ whatever pizza toppings you like, sometimes i do green peppers, mushrooms, italian sausage, etc)

Boil water.  When boiling add noodles - cook until VERY al dente.  Like 5 minutes.  Drain.  Meanwhile, brown hamburger, add onion and garlic half way through.  Drain.  Add soups (and any other toppings - except pepperioni) to meat.  Add it meat mixture to noodles with half the cheese, stir.  Pour into casserole dish(es). One large 9x13 or two square pans.  Top with remaining cheese and then top with pepperonis.  Bake @ 350 til heated through, 30 - 40 minutes. 

(To freeze skip the baking step.  Cover with aluminum foil and freeze in pan.  OR you can pour the noodle, meat, cheese mixture into a gallon freezer bag and lay flat to freeze.  Then thaw and top with remaining ingredients later, bake as before.)

It'll look something like this:

(stolen from google images)

the second is ham and potato casserole.  this one is basically cheesey potatoes and add ham. :)

ingredients:
1 lb. cooked ham, diced (i like to use left over christmas/easter/whatever holiday you made ham for, ham - better flavor and i didn't have to cook more ham)
32 oz frozen southern style hashbrowns (the little cube ones)
1 pt. sour cream
1 can cream of something (chicken, mushroom)
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

sometimes i feel like this needs a little something else, i just can't figure out what...tweak it and message me!

Mix it all together and put in a large casserole dish or two square ones.  Bake at 325 for 60 minutes.

(To freeze, top with foil.  Store.  Or divide into two, one gallon freezer bags, lay flat, freeze.)

This one looks kinda like this:

(stolen from google images)

techless tuesday!

i assigned my first paper of the year this year to my freshmen.  and i am shocked.  i read some of them today.  several of them, i don't think you can acutally call an essay.

the instructions: imagine the world with one of today's modern conveniences (ie. phone, computer, cars, etc).  write a five paragraph essay describing what and how the world would be different.  this should include an introduction, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

while the papers were pretty rough overall (expected), some of them were decent format and writing wise.  but what truly surprised me was the lack of imagination and the lack of awareness of what goes on around them. 

nearly all the students chose to write about a world with no phones.  they all wrote about how boring life would be without a phone and that they wouldn't be able to have friends, take pictures, listen to music, or even get directions without a cell phone. 

i reminded them that music can be played on the radio and that we have cameras and about maps. 

and thus a new revelation for me.  how much do i depend on my cell phone for entertainment?  it's a bit ridiculous.  i check my phone while i'm eating dinner, while maelle takes a bath, while watching tv, etc. 

i think it might be time to implement a little electronic limit in the Frasier household.  we started doing techless tuesdays over the summer, but  in the last couple weeks have begun ignoring the techless rule. 

but i think it's time to re-instate it!

join me for techless tuesday!  link up with me and let me know what you did on your techless tuesday.

back to school, back to school

a little reference to billy madison, with adam sandler, not my proudest movie reference, but one that reaches way back into my high school days. :)

i have now been back to school for going on my 3rd week.  and it has been good.  so good.

i do love teaching.  my students have reminded me each day how much i am exactly where i should be.  another reminder comes each time one of them inquisitively asks about my little fish tattoo. and each time i visit with another teacher who reminds me about the the reason that they teach, and that it is the same reason as mine.  

i LOVE that each day i get to INVEST in kinds that NEED investing.  if there was any doubt that i am reaching students, that doubt was asuaged when i received a note from one of last year's students who reminded me that while my school is a tough place to teach, it is a great place to be.  she also mentioned that she not only learned about english, she learned about life and about how to let Christ's light shine even when we are NOT talking about it.  that note really made my first day back a confirmation of God's calling for my life.

so far my second first week has been about 300 times better than my first, first week.  honestly, i like teaching so much more than i did last year.  and since i have a nearly grown-up babe, i might as well be ready for my empty nest and keep on teaching - she is driving after all.

in preparation for teaching this year i decided i needed to do some things to make life a little less insane.  this includes freezer meals, bulk food preparation, a little cleaning help, a husband who has pretty much taken on the laundry task completely (he rocks), and a little less wasted time watching tv.

i spent a friday morning over the summer with one of my good pals, Megan, who has negotiaged to have fridays off from her job (yay, megan!) making freezer meals.  we each made two double recipes and swapped.  it was a fun time to be together chatting while our babes played and took naps.  her little man is about 8 weeks older than maelle.  she made spinach lasagna roll ups and broccoli, chicken and rice casserole.  i made pizza casserole and pioneer woman's chicken spaghetti (i blogged about it once before).  the roll-ups and pizza casserole we put in throw away aluminum pans, but the rest we stored flat in gallon size freezer bags.  i prefer the freezer bag method.  they stack so nicely.

these were just my meals...

I also have made a couple other meals along the way.  certain recipes i try to double when i make them, it's really just as easy to make two as to make one.  so i made some meals as a house warming gift for my bro, who just recently bought a house and doubled them all and just tossed 'em in the fridge.  those meals were a little more basic, but still pretty yummy (he's picky!).  i made tater tot casserole and ham and potato casserole.  another classic freezer meal in the frasier household is called chalupa. 

i think i am up to about 10 meals in my freezer, i figure i can pull out one a week (they will all have leftovers) and make it through october!

over the next few weeks i will share the recipes with you.  i am excited for a reason to get back to blogging.  i have missed my theraputic writing.

i have also been trying hard to prep a week or so of food at a time in order to make my weeks a little easier.  last week looked like this.

i ended up with 10 shredded beef (roast in the crockpot) and black bean burritos (rolled with some spinach and cheese) for lunch and 5 individually packed smoothies (just add 1/2 cup yogurt in the morning). as well as around 2.5 cups more of adobo beef in the freezer just ready for tacos or something later on.

this week looks like this.

that is 5 jars of shredded chicken (crockpot again) mixed with leftover pasta salad full of veggies 5 jars of granola (ready for a 1/2 cup of yogurt and a handfull of blueberries in the morning) and 6 full pounds of shredded generic chicken ready to be tossed into enchilads, chicken salad, soup, bbq sandwiches, etc.

so now i am ready for another week of school with easy, healthy meals for breakfast and lunch and a freezer full of quick and ready made meals.

this process on sunday during nap time leads to evenings full of family time and relaxation!  yay!!!  that means lots of happy snuggles with our little gal who is always ready for a par-tay. 

 

focus.

sorry no pictures today, just words.

i know i have blogged about contentment before, but it just keeps coming back.  is that a sign? or perhaps a nudge that i should be working what contentment looks like in my life?

i would say there is a good chance.

God chooses to speak, but do we listen? it's hard isn't it.

so definition...

merriam-webster online tells me that contented means:
feeling or showing satisfaction with one's possessions, status, or situation. 

consider the following:

i have more than enough things.

i am a) happily married to a great man,

       b) joyfully (almost always) mothering a sweet baby girl,

       c) blissfully enjoying the summer benefits of being a teacher and teaching itself, and

       d) blessedly surrounded by loving, ecouraging, and faithful family and friends.

i live in a safe home with many comforts (thankful for air conditioning today!).

i have a Savior who was willing to die just for me (and just for you) so that i could know Him and be redeemed.

i will be enjoying a lemon-blueberry cupcake this evening (considering they are still in supply when i hit the cupcake place!).

i have reached a point in my life that i think i know who i am and am happy with the person i see.

now, consider this:

i think i need more.  more stuff, more happiness, more blessings.  why is that?  ugh.  it's super frustrating to battle with knowing the difference between a want and a need.  there are people who NEED.  and then there is me, i WANT.  hello, there big difference. 

i have been doing a Bible study with a friend along with her sister and her blog.  we are diggining into the book of Genesis to better understand God's redemptive plan and how Jesus is necessary and evident in the Old Testament.  it is pretty interesting so far. 

but as we were doing this, i got distracted by (or guided to) a bit about Eve.  you know the gal, she ate the forbidden fruit and blammed it on the serpent.  so what was her motivation for eating it you ask?  she had everything (she walked literally with God).  the only thing she didn't have was the fruit of one specific tree.  and she chose to focus on that one thing instead of the WORLD she had just received.  in the footnotes of my study Bible it says, "Eve shifted her focus from all that God had done and given to the one thing that he withheld." 

that statement stopped me in my tracks.

boom.

contentment.

it's about a shift in focus. 

it's a tricky world out there.  but isn't that the point?  we can't get caught up in the world.  we must get caught up in Jesus. 

what's your focus on today?

 

5 months

holy smokes, how can my baby girl be 5 months old? 

it's crazy!!!

but we are loving you more every day.  maelle, you are so much fun!  you're little personality is already coming through nicely.  you will be quite like your mom and her dad, i think.  all our best qualities...loud, funny, animated...  poor girl.

so here is a comparison for you.

one month

five months

it was hard to get a good one with the sign because you only wanted to eat it...

at 5 months, maelle, you are sitting up and just starting to roll over (only back to front) and scoot.  you can scoot two different ways though (we hope that makes up for the fact that you aren't really interested in rolling over at all and will only do it when tempted with a special treat (an iPhone or a cup will do the trick).  first you scoot by sitting on your bottom and bouncing so much that you will just barely inch forward.  the other scoot is a tummy backwards army crawl thing.  you seem pretty frustrated by it, because we think your really want to be going forwards...oops.

you're also VERY interested in cameras and really want to touch.  well really you just want to touch everything in sight.   and then you want to eat it.  it's so funny to watch and see what you want to put in your mouth.  lately, you have started gnawing on tables - nana's table, restaurant tables (yuck!), the coffee table - you name it you've chewed it.

you LOVE your feet.  you are constantly playing with your toes and trying to get them in your mouth.  you are usually quite successful!  pretty impressive flexibility.

you're also always happy.  now that you have figured out the benefits of a good nap, you smile nearly all of your awake time.  (currently, you have been out like a light for about 3 hours! i keep checking just to make sure you're breathing!)  you are getting so big, that blanket used to seem so big, now it seems like any day you might out grow it.

true to form and family, you, girl, are a TALKER.  you loves to hear yourself.  you will lay in your bed in the mornings just happily babbleing to yourself until someone comes to get you.  it is so sweet.  you will also talk the ear off your little elephant carseat friend, Tony Elephantae (affectionately dubbed so by your daddy).  you also loves to sing.  all. the. time.  we sang the wheels on the bus for a solid 40 minutes on our last trip out west while waiting for a little thing called sleep...after about 15 rounds of the repeats, your mommy and daddy got a little more creative with the verses, but you didn't seem to mind as long as we just kept singing.

finley and you are finally beginning to become friends.  you look at him and smile when he walks in the room.  mommy can't get a picture of you two because you won't hold still long enough.  he distracts you from all your tasks, diaper changes, eating, nursing, etc.  you have no focus when finley is in the room.  he is so gentle with you and is a little protective too.  he lays between your stroller and the other dogs at nana and papa joe's house, almost like he's trying to say, "this is my baby...get your own."

here are a few more pictures and videos to remind us and you about you at 5 months.

So funny! from lindsay frasier on Vimeo.

Swinging! from lindsay frasier on Vimeo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

maelle's latest video

she's a star obviously and here she is telling you ALL about it.

Did you know that... from lindsay frasier on Vimeo.

 

3 months.

my baby girl is three months old.  

how did that happen so fast?  i can't even believe it.

it feels like you are pregnant forever, just waiting and waiting. and then, BOOM, your baby is so big.

so big that...she can sit in a bumbo seat.  she loves sitting in it!  there is another little girl at daycare who is about two weeks older, she and maelle just sit in the seats and talk to each other.  it is adorable.  i really want to know what they are saying to each other.  if only i spoke baby!

that would really be an interesting talent...

 

ooo...oohhh..aahhh... from lindsay frasier on Vimeo.

she's so big that...she also loves to talk (i know, i know...)!  she is starting to talk a ton.  on the way to school, some days she sleeps and other days she sits there telling the little lady bug, that hangs on her car seat, all about her day.  and that little bug just jingles in response.  it's so fun to hear!  that little voice just totally melts me.  it's so sweet to hear.

 

 

so big that...she's also started wearing jewelry.  :)  honestly she didn't even know it was there.  so funny.  

she was however, totally, totally in love with her new bunny.  she got it for Easter from her nana.  it's like a blanket attached to a bunny head, ears and arms.

she chooses to sleep with it like this.

she really seems to want it.  which is so crazy.  i can't believe how she can "ask" for things.  you give her the bunny and she totally just chills.  mostly because she is eating it...but hey.  who am i to judge.

she's so big that...she is almost rolling over.  we can tell that she really wants to.  she's so close.  on the little play gym, she loves that monkey and she will do her very best to get it and make it play "row, row, row your boat" or "shoo fly."  then she just smiles and smiles and sings along.   if you put it in the right place, she will get clear over on her side and reach for it, then fall back to her back.  she gets really angry when it doesn't work.  we might have a perfectionist on our hands...

her three month birthday was the day after easter so here she is after she got her easter dress dirty...

she was all smiles and such a trooper!  she let 14 different, well 13, adults snuggle with her all weekend (for some reason the 21 year old, non-related male wasn't interested in snuggling a leaky baby. :)). she chatted with everyone and took naps on nearly everyone's shoulders.  So so cute.

then she found out there was money in her easter eggs...then things got serious.

 

funny students stories.

my word.  sometimes these kids just take it out of me.

with my seniors we had to stay after the bell because they wasted so much class time.  i waited looking at the clock, like you do with grade school kids, waiting for them to notice.  ugh.  this was after i woke up two sleeping (snoring even) kids.  ugh.  you have to be here, you might as well join the fun.

************

monday afternoon i also had to send one of my freshmen to the office.  i REALLY hate doing that.  for some reason, it just screams EPIC FAIL on my part.  surely i should be able to maintain the status quo in my own classroom.  but sometimes it just doesn't happen.

this particular young man was not doing anything.  at all.  out of pure rebellion.  i asked him if he had a question.  he asked one that i didn't understand and when i asked him to clarify he responded with,

"I thought you were a teacher.  I'm sorry you're so slow."  (please read that with as much hatred and sarcasm as you can muster).

He basically called me stupid in front of an entire class and thus, i asked him to leave.  

he wouldn't.

i opened the door and asked again.

he wouldn't.

i called "security."

he left. but not without telling me to "SHUT UP" and saying, "You're so stupid."

and we're done.  have a nice day, but you and i, we're through.

saddly, he returns to my class tomorrow.  hopefully i will have found my happy place by then and be able to forgive and forget.  i'm guessing that won't have happened, but i am an extremely good bs'er.  so i should be able to con a very unwise 15 year old.

************

when i bring maelle to school, some of my students see us.  yesterday in fact, i had taken her to my classroom to get a little more sleep before school and was carrying her down to the daycare and several students stopped me in the hall and said how cute she is before asking me:

"Is that your baby?!?"

me: nope.  i stole her and brought her to school with me.

student: oh, really?!

me: yes, this is maelle.  she's my baby. (internal dialogue: obviously.)

************

student: mrs. frasier, i have a question.

me: ok, if it's related, shoot.

student: it is.  did they have cars during the time this book happened?

me: let's walk through this.  how was the concentration camp destroyed?

student: a bomb.

me: how do bombs get where they are going?

student: oh, right.

************

this one is just sad.

yesterday a student asked me how to write a paper on the computer.  he'd never done it before.  can you believe a publically educated kid from texas who has reached the 9th grade had never typed a paper before.  he didn't even know what program to open to start.

************

this one is also sad.

senior student, let's call her jane has not been in my class for a few weeks now.  she apparently also didn't come while the sub was here.  jane told me that she didn't think it was worth her time to come while the sub was here.

ok, so that may be a somewhat fair statement.

however, i am currently receiveing emails from her (during 1st hour of the day, she is in MY 1st hour) of the papers that she should have turned in in january.  so basically she is sitting at home sending me emails to turn in her assignments.

my reply to her email was this: Jane, it would be better if you were in class rather than just emailing these.

we'll see what she has to say to that.

************

and that's all we have for today. :)

transition

so we've had some transitions around here lately.  and thought you should know how they are going.

transition one: parenthood.

we are loving this - even if she isn't. :)

 

we are completely overwhelmed and in awe of her.

we are totally and unreservedly and unabashedly in love with her.

we are seeing a completely different side of ourselves.

i am mushy and ridiculous - i can't help but kiss her cheeks 50 times a day. 

ryan is completely wrapped around her itty bitty finger - he's in deep folks and we are praying her comes out of it before she actually gets old enough to ask for stuff...

and we never saw ourselves as people who would be those people who turn into gushy, the only thing we talk about is our baby.  however, we've totally embraced everything about it! and we talk ceaselessly about her.  it's a bit ridiculous.  hopefully, it will wear off a little. 

but we feel like we are getting a handle on how to not freak out and how to be flexible and how to do life with a baby.

transition two: back to school.

this one was harder and easier than i thought it would be. 

i realize that doesn't make much sense, but it's true.  i always thought i would be a mom who was totally ready to go back to work after her maternity leave.  however, i started dreading the return about halfway through my leave.  the first four weeks all i could manage to think about was feeding the baby, sleeping, and healing.  the second four weeks, i basically spent my days thinking "we are down to only three mondays...we are down to two mondays..." etc.  i cried about it several nights towards the end when i would think about it.  when people asked about it in the last couple days before leave was over, i started tearing up without warning.  ryan was totally worried that i had fully lost my ability to reason - at all. 

in the end, i cried all the way to school on the first day away from my girl. i took my mascara with me and got ready there. :) and then, everything went up from there.

i got to school and everyone was so nice on that first day and so encouraging - even my students.

in each of my classes at least three kids said, "mrs. frasier, we are so SO glad you are back."  and then four girl hugs and one really awkward guy side hug before the first bell, i was feeling pretty good about being there.  my co-workers are also mostly working moms, too and have been wonderfully encouraging.  and now three weeks and a spring break later, i am truly enjoying my job again.

i am still struggling with the balance and how to "do it all", but everyone struggles with that...right?!?  i'm not sure how to finish grading all my papers and write lesson plans and still leave as soon as possible after 3:10.  i am so eager to see miss maelle, i am completely worthless after the bell rings anyway.  i also really haven't figured out how to cook dinner after school either...BUT i really do love teaching. 

i love my students. 

i love that maelle is at school with me at the daycare at school.

i love the look my students get when they appreciate what we read or they feel confident about what they have written.

i love that i get so excited to pick up my girl after school (and sometimes see her in the middle of the day).

i love that while i feel like i am moving out every time i leave for school and that i may never feel rested again, i feel like, for the moment at least, i have the best of both worlds. 

(ie, it's spring break and summer is coming!)

 

2 months

in the craziness that has been the last three weeks, i forgot to put up the pictures we took of Maelle on her 8 week birthday. or whatever you are supposed to call that...

we went to the doctor and had our big appointment - shots and everything.  three of them.  she was so mad. :)  but handeled it like a champ!

no sickness.

no crying after the fact.

no fever. 

just happy smiles!

thankfully!

so we took a few pictures.

this time she was a little bit interested in the sign. :)  she didn't mess with it at the one moth pictures.

then she got a little angry. 

so we changed locations.  and we got happy again. 

at 2 months, Maelle, you are a very happy girl.  all your people at day care are surprised how happy you are.  they keep asking, "does maelle ever cry? she's so happy." 

we are loving watching your personality develop.  you love to play and grab at things.  and are starting to bring everything you touch to your mouth.  you smile at us all the time, just begging someone to play with you and snuggle you.  you are quite happy to cuddle all the time.

you are also starting to put on the chunk, and we think it makes you so cute!  at the doctor they weighed you in at 12 pounds 10 ounces.

they had to measure you twice at the doctor because they were surprised at how much you had grown.  you are now 1 foot 11 inches tall.  you grew 2.5 inches since your last appointment.  which explains why you are already wearing 3 to 6 month clothes.  you are just too tall for all your other stuff.

you have finally gotten over your bottle hatred.  there for a couple weeks you just screamed at the top of your quite powerful lungs (we know they are there and are thankful you don't use them very often) every time we gave you a bottle.  now however, you chug those babies down as fast as you can and are happy as a clam.

you travel and change and adjust to new things so very well.  you go out to eat and are happy.  you go to basketball games that are so loud and love them!  you are a flexile little girl.

you are still sleeping like a rockstar - or maybe not like a rockstar. :)  you go to bed around 8:45 and sleep until we wake you up at 6:30 for school.  on the weekends you seem to sleep all the way until 8:00.  we love that you sleep in!

here you are at one month.

and two months.

we are so thankful that you joined our family on December 31!