Back to School

244. Little girls with a tight braid on either side of her head
245. Reuniting with friends after a summer (teachers with teachers, kids with kids)
246. Teachers reuniting with students after a summer
247. Teachers falling in love with their new classes
248. Field trips
249. New school supplies
250. Starting fresh: floors waxed, new paper on the walls, new pencils ready to be used
251. Watching first year teachers and first year students gain confidence
252. Crayons
253. Kids who haven't forgotten how to read over the summer
254. The feeling that anything we put our collective minds to, we can achieve.
255. The school being alive with the spirits of kids and educators and families and staff again.

HubbyHubby

243. Hubby Hubby

Baking

243. Baking like I cook, learning to take risks!

My Light and Fluffy Banana Bread
adapted from two favorite chefs Craig Claiborne (NYTimes Cookbook, 1990) and Molly Katzen (The New Moosewood Cookbook, 2000)
2.5 cups of flour (I used 2 cups white organic King Arthur and 1/2 cup whole wheat King Arthur)
4 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup of vegetable shortening (sans trans fat, please!) plus shortening for greasing the pans.
1 1/3 cup sugar (I used Florida Crystals Natural Cane Sugar and it worked fine for baking, less processed and less harsh working conditions for farmworkers)
3 eggs (extra large), room temperature, beaten
2 cups mashed, very ripe bananas, soaked in 1 cup strong coffee
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1 tsp double power vanilla extract (I <3 Penzey's)
1/2 tsp almond extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease, generously, a loaf pan and 18 muffin cups with shortening.
2. Double sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add Cinnamon and nutmeg.
3. Cream the shortening, add the sugar gradually and work until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat well. Add vanilla and almond extracts. Add the flour mixture alternately with the bananas, a small amount at a time (about a ladle-ful), beating after each addition until smooth.
4. Pour mixture into pans and put into the oven. The muffins take 12-15 minutes, the bread about 40-45 minutes depending on how well your oven keeps temp (mine doesn't)
5. Cool the muffins on a cooling rack, but allow the bread to cool before transfering to the racks.

Yay!

Ikea

237. Watching preggo bellies grow on cousins and coworkers
238. Inventing recipes for our ice cream/frozen yogurt machine
239. Our new Karlstad sofa (in green!)
240. Matching the couch to the floor (also green)
241. The green room
242. How the cats think the green room (and the green Karlstad) belongs to them

236

236. Ben Stiller on Sesame Street

(Almost Summer) Fridays

221. Making a big pot of chili
222. Naomi coming home before 6
223. Discovering the way my house looks at all different parts of the day. The living room and green room and back yard are VERY sunny right now
224. Taking the bus with the smell fresh cilantro coming from my purse
225. Rereading the Little House on the Prarie Series and relating to, and being totally in awe of, Ma and Pa
226. My friend Steph's one year anniversary with a woman who makes her extremely happy
227. Special sections of the Post- Food, Home, Weekend (all the things I like, I guess)
228. Open windows
229. Shady tree swings
230. Considering a hammock
231. Big pitchers of iced tea
232. Sliced up lemons and limes
233. Setting the table outside
234. The sp-p-p-p of sprinklers
235. Smelling summer

Two Months Later

201. Awake Tea
202. Coke Zero (I guess I'm on a caffine roll)
203. 2 sleep cycles on a Wednesday afternoon (or maybe I'm just fighting the battle against exaustion)
204. Being done (almost!) with standarized tests (for the year)
205. Realizing that the last time I posted was almost exactly two months ago, or, exactly 5 days before we closed on our new house, and being able to look back and realize that, though hellish at times, our seemingly endless move is over.
206. March 27, 2009- the day we settled on the house
207. April 19, 2009- the day we moved in
208. May 14th, 2009- the day we picked up our split queen box springs and stopped sleeping on the floor. That made more of a difference than I expected.
209. Sitting on the deck
210. Sitting in the green room, windows open, watching a movie, during a rain storm
211. Our old fashioned, deep, deep tub
212. Freecycling lots of stuff, including all of our boxes
213. Not buying the moving boxes to begin with, but rather having them gifted to us by my boss who had just moved (lucky me!)
214. Opening up all the boxes and moving stuff in. And it being done now.
215. Opening some wedding presents for the first time and using them (beer glasses!)
216. Making a throne for the cats on the radiator box and having them like it. I hope that this will be "Having the cats scratch the throne instead of the new couch" as soon as we have a new couch
217. Sweet new neighbors, including some neighbor cats, including Romeo, the 25 pound stray who is fed by our across the street neighbors
218. That our view from the bedroom is our across the street neighbors backyard. And that their backyard is like the perfect forest. We live in a tree house!
219. 1344 Iris St. It's just lovely.
220. Feeling like we've always lived here