Check for Murderers. . . then Pee

Halloween always makes me thing of scary stories. ..  which I HATE by the way. I hate being scared . . . why would you even PAY for that experience . . . yuck. I would MUCH rather be secure, safe, and innocent. : )

Anyway, I found this picture on pintrest today and it just made me laugh because I totally do this EVERY time I go to the bathroom at night.

The reason? Perhaps I have shared this story before, but once upon a time my cousins thought it would be funny to tell me a scary story (*cough Natalie* cough Jen*) about some murder that hides in the shower/under the bed. I was like ten at the time. Well, ever since then, I have never been able to forget the story and am scared to death that some murder is hiding in my shower at night. SO, I check the shower . . .coast is clear . then pee.

If you dare read the story . . . you can find it here.  Ugh, just thinking about it makes me shutter.

Restaurant Review: Pizzeria 712

This week Austin surprised me by making reservations at Pizzeria 712. It is a place that we have wanted to try for a while but since it is a tad pricey, we decided we would save our pennies for that one. Well, this weekend we did it and oh my heavens, . . . I am still dreaming about the whole experience.

It is a quaint little restaurant. It probably only fits 40 people, which is kind of nice. They serve you water out of these adorable glass bottles. The whole environment is SO fun . . . they really take things up a notch compared to your average restaurant.  Austin and I ordered this Garlic Ricotta dish with garlic Crostini. Oh my gosh. . . amazing! The Ricotta was warm and melty with roasted cloves of garlic and olive oil in it. Then we dipped these little garlic cracker-like bread slices in it and we were in heaven. Wow. The ricotta was SO fresh and the flavors went together perfectly!

Then we ordered basically the "meat-lovers" pizza, simply because there were things we couldn't pronounce on it, so we decided we would try it. : )

This is what we got:

There is a fancy kind of prosciutto on it, as well as some variety of salami, along with garlic slivers and fresh mozzarella. WOW. Their tomato sauce was enough to rant and rave about, but again, every bit was so FULL of flavor and SO fresh! It was a winner!

The place is called Pizzeria 712 because they have a brick oven that reaches 712 degrees. . . whatdah know!

If you want a nice dinner with the freshest ingredients and a food experience you will never forget, I would highly suggest you put visiting Pizzeria 712 on your bucket list. Wow! We love it! We want to try Communal next, it is owned by the same person. Check it out!

6:30 am Groceries

I am loving teaching! Have I said that yet? I love it! Most days, I am laughing half of the class just because my students are so funny. I love them! However, perhaps due to lack of sleep, PMS, or just stress, there are days where I am ready to be done. I leave with a pounding headache from all of the yelling, screaming, and reeking perfumes and lotions that fill the halls and classrooms. In general though, I love it.

Now, something unique about being a foods teacher is that in addition to preparing your handouts, activities, power points  etc. you also have to squeeze in time somewhere to go grocery shopping for your labs. Often when we have labs, I go grocery shopping on my way to school. It's just easier to pick things up on my way in. This means waking up at 5:00, leaving the house around 6:15 am, and stopping by a grocery store before going to school. I love the reactions I get as I load up my grocery cart with 35 cans of pineapple, 56 cans of tomato sauce, 7 bags of cheddar cheese, and  10 bell peppers (at 6:30 am). I often get one of 3 reactions/questions.

#1. From those who obviously can't determine my age: " How many kids do you have?! "

To which I would like to respond: about 240. And I'm in my twenties. Beat that. 

#2. From the extreme coupon-er moms: "What coupons are you using? Did I miss a coupon?" 

This reaction just makes me laugh. Massive amounts of food = coupons. 

#3. Usually from the cashier: "So . . . . . . . . what are you making?" OR after scanning each item . . . "What are you doing with this? What are you doing with this? "

Okay, this one gets old. I hear this one EVERY time I shopping. BUT, alas, I politely answer and look at it as an opportunity to prep for teaching that day, or count it as my community service for educating cashiers everywhere how to cook. 

Then, after I go grocery shopping for my massive quantities of food, I then get to haul it ALL into the school. I have decided to count this as my exercise. : ) 

After I haul the food in, I have to divide it, do any prep work needed and get the lab trays ready, equipment taken out, and on top of that, get all the handouts, power points, etc. ready for the day. 

Lab days are a lot of work. They are my favorite days though, so I am okay with it. I totally expected it when I went into this field. I know the kids love it too. When it comes to labs, here are my favorite comments/questions:

#1. Are we cooking/eating today?

I have told them if they want the answer, look at the calendar. Alas, I hear it every. single. day. of. my. life. Pretty sure it is the bane of my existence. 

#2. Do we have to make this?

To which I usually respond, "No, we can do book work instead if you would like." : ) 

#3. I saw you hauling in those groceries this morning. . . they looked heavy. 

 Yep . . . . they were. 

#4. Why can't you just cook it for us?

 . . . . . . You do know you are in S-C-H-O-O-L right? 

#5. Can we cook ______________ instead? 

Sure, the ingredients will magically appear. We have an endless supply of everything in our back cupboards. Surprise! We are changing the lab today!! Candy for everyone! And world peace. 

These questions just make me laugh/cringe. If they only knew what goes into planning and prepping a lab. If anything, teaching has given me SUCH a greater appreciation for my teachers. 

Blank Future & a thank-you

I made it 1 1/2 Months of teaching! This week will mark the 1/4 of the school year mark! School has been going well. Now it is more of a routine than anything. I still enjoy it, but it still has it's difficulties too. Recently, the kids have felt "too comfortable" and they talk a lot. So we are working on that. : ) I have REALLY enjoyed seeing my efforts pay off though. I had a mom tell me that ever since we talked about food bourne illnesses, her daughter now cleans the kitchen--good too. Never mind that mom has said it a million times before, but since Mrs. Somers says it needs to be done, it happens. : )  I hope that I am helping these kids make healthy eating habits. We did make cookies though and this was one of their creations:

What one cooking group made with their half-baked cookie dough--Cookie dough mountain.  It was really funny. 

This week there was a morning where I was one hour late to work! I got on the freeway and found a . . . parking lot. No moving, what so ever. . not even CRAWLING. I listened to the radio and there were two supply trucks that had an accident and they shut the entire freeway down. It took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to get between two exits. I called the school and let them know. Thank heavens it happened on the day I didn't have a first period, but oh my gosh, I hate being late. . . it was rather stressful. 

Austin has been working on one assignment . . . . all day. He has been SO busy. Poor guy. He really enjoys his classes though often says that he would rather do homework than take a nap! That's huge! He's busy, but doing well. 

Something that I have been thinking about recently is how open the future is at this point. Growing up, I had a goal or an idea of what I wanted, I went for it, usually got it, and then it happened. Examples: running for Student Council, getting into BYU, getting married, getting an internship. . . . . . . now what? Austin and I find ourselves staring at a blank future.. . not sure where it will take us.  Seriously . . . no clue, and it's a weird feeling. I love making plans, and I don't have a clue what to plan for these days. A career? A family? Moving? Staying? School? No School? No clue. 

Last thought, I just wanted to say a sincere thank-you again for everyone that gave wedding gifts. Believe it or not, but we still have 1-2 gift cards left from our wedding. Because of all of your gifts we have NEVER had to buy towels, dish soap, laundry detergent, toiletries, or cleaning supplies for almost a year in a half. It has been a wonderful start to our marriage not to have to worry about these "extra" little things that are easy to forget. Even a year and a half later, we are loving our wedding gifts which I'm sure we will for our whole lives. Thank you so much!