Monday, September 14, 2009

Little Hamburgers

It seems like I always talk about food. Wiley and I brainstormed yesterday for future meals and came up with the idea of little burgers. Turkey burgers to be specific. We combined ground turkey meat with Wortchestshire sauce, an egg, bread crumbs cooked bacon and a little honey. Then I sauteed some little onions (little onions = < half a big onion cut up in to small pieces) and cooked some corn bread. I made little cornbread loaves that we cut up and put the tiny patties on. Needless to say we were successful at cooking a good dinner. Wiley found a new "last meal".

The other topic of conversation is grad school. I go to school every day and do 6th and 8th grade level math. Last year I realized I missed being a student myself and wanted a little mental challenge. When the opportunity arose early August for me to apply to a graduate program through UH for a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction I prayed and then applied.

Wiley found out that he was accepted into the grad program at HBU for a masters in psychology the Thursday before classes began. In a similar fashion I heard that I have been accepted into this teacher's program last Thursday and class begins tomorrow (Tuesday). Funny similarity.

Either way, I will begin taking a math class for teachers at HCC Spring Branch every Tuesday night. I'm excited about it even though it may add a number of assignments to my plate. In today's official and more detailed email from my UH contact I learned that the textbook for this course is one I used at A&M during methods. The nice thing is that I liked it then and that I still have it now. Hopefully that fact that it's one edition old will not cause a problem. It will save me over $100 if I can use the edition I already have.

The Parkmans are officially both is Grad school at Houston schools. Will we graduate? Yes. Soon? No. =)

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Another Tuesday

Here are a few things I have figured out recently:

1. I really do love swimming!
2. The more I cook, the better I get.
3. I really can control how well I handle stress and the load that comes with teaching.
4. Not complaining on purpose makes everyone more positive. =)
5. Bluebell's "Light" ice cream is very good and half the calories.
6. One year of teaching makes ALL the difference.

Also, Wiley will be grading 90 quizes in the next few days. That is more than I have ever graded at one time. That sounds like torture to me and I'm a teacher . . . he's a TA at HBU for an undergrad sociology class.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Uhaul Box

Wiley and I have been holding on to a very large Uhaul box for four months. When I say large, I mean the type that is almost as tall as I am and two times as wide. It has been holding up the wall behind our front door and now it is gone!!!!!!! We kept trying to let someone use it so that it would be recycled, but no one seemed to want it. I don't like ugly and useless stuff hanging out in an 800 sq ft space so it finally had to go. Four months is long enough to hold onto something that really has no spot or purpose or beauty. We took it to a school recycling spot and it will now become someone else's paper or uhaul box. I hope that it will be made useful again, but at the same time I'm much more concerned with the fact that we now have a white wall instead of a uhaul box.

Hamburger Helper

Saturday we spent a few hours watching college football at the apartment of some friends of ours. As a result I snacked for a few hours and was not very hungry when we came home. Wiley wanted hamburger helper and we decided to wait until Sunday for lunch. At Bible study I mentioned that we were going home to make hamburger helper for lunch. This really sounds odd to say outloud- but I did it anyways.

Then we ran into my parents leaving church and were invited to eat with them. A whole nother story. =) Therefore the hamburger helper was delayed yet another meal. =(

Finally, Sunday evening I fixed the beloved dish. It became quite an event because we had spent over 24 hours anticipating the meal. I spiced it up with fresh basil from our "garden" and added frozen spinach as well. In the end it was very delicious and quite healthy (if HH can actually be healthy).

So, needless to say, we have made Hambuger Helper a very special part of our lives now.