Snow Days (Again)

This is the first week back to school after winter break and how many classes/internship days have I attended? 0.

Zero, none, zilch.

GCS decided to call off school on Monday because of the impending winter storm, so that meant no internship. UNCG called off all classes after 4P, so that meant no night class.

UNCG closed all day Tuesday so that meant no morning class.

Aaaand, GCS decided to close again today, so that meant no internship.

I have no class on Thursdays, so that means my first official day of school will be Friday!

God just knew that we needed to jump back in very slowly :)

Our apartment has been full of people over the past few days, playing board games, cooking, doing puzzles, and watching movies. Good times, good times.

Thrift Store Finds

Thrift stores are one of my best friends and I had a couple of good finds today:

The Salvation Army thrift in Greensboro has a great book selection and I'm always keeping an eye out for books I can use in my future classroom library. I snagged Boxcar Children book #9, Caddie Woodlawn (A favorite of mine when I was younger), Annie Oakley (a part of the 'Childhood of Famous Americans' series that I also enjoyed growing up), and an old copy (1928) of 'Wind in the Willows'.

I also found a Chris Rice CD: 'Smell The Color 9'.

The Goodwill in Greensboro does not have a great book selection but they do have a great clothing selection, and I found 2 J. Crew sweaters and another nice gray sweater, all 3 of which I can wear for internship.

All great finds for a grand total of $14 dollars spent!

Merry Christmas and Happy Snow Days!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

The snowfall we had the day after Christmas topped off the season very nicely. Steve and I rounded up two cardboard boxes with wax coatings on the outside and went on a sledding adventure! We had so much fun and were frozen by the time we finished. I even tried my hand at snow cream later that day which turned out delicious.

This was the first spot Steve and I chose for our sledding ventures.

This critter loves frolicking in the snow.

This is the most snow I've seen (about 6 inches) since my freshman year at UNCG; that snow was a memorable one that relieved us of classes for a day. Too bad it can't stick around!

Brrrrr...

Soo whatever winter weather forecasters said that it would be a warm winter.... sorry but I'm gonna have to disagree.

The high today in Greensboro isn't even at freezing! And the highs for the week won't rise above 44 degrees. The low tonight? 17 degrees. I looked out the window last night around midnight and it was snowing again. It's just crazy. I've never seen a snowfall as early as occurred this year and there's some more forecasted to fall later in the week.

So, snuggle up to someone and stay warm :)

First Snow of the Winter!

Mr. Jack Frost brought us our first snowfall of the winter this weekend! My dad made a visit so me, Sadie, Steven, Dad, and some friends went shopping at the mall (Confession: I bought a pair of jeggings....Google it), and it was quite an adventure considering we weren't counting on dealing with all the snow! Steven texted me around lunchtime stating it was snowing and sure enough when I checked outside, it was coming down; it didn't stop for several hours so we ended up with about 2 inches according to the Weather Channel. I snapped some shots of the beautiful landscape outside our apartment as I was walking out the door to church this morning. There's just something about the magic and beauty of snow this time of year, love it.

Doing a quick backtrack to Thanksgiving, it was wonderful getting to hang out with family to cook and eat; mom said I did most of the cooking this year, but I'm pretty sure I was only able to do that because she was in the kitchen with me! :) Christmas will be upon us before we know it! On a sad note, I spent my last day with my 3rd graders on Friday, they were sad to see me leave and I was sad to go; I truly loved interning at that school, in that area, and in that grade; 3rd grade might be my new favorite :) We shall see what next semester holds.

Jazzed up Mac 'n Cheese

I was not totally convinced about this macaroni and cheese recipe I found in Prevention magazine, but I decided to give it a try since I had a whole Butternut Squash to cook; it was surprisingly delicious! Plus, I think it's a great recipe to sneak some veggies in for kids who may not like them.

Recipe: (Serves 4)

- 8 oz whole wheat rotini (I used penne & there are 4 oz in 1 cup)

- 1/2 cup reduced-fat milk

- 6 oz butternut squash (you can use frozen, I bought a whole one at the store, cut it up, boiled it and then mashed it)

- 1 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/4 tsp dry mustard

- pepper to taste

- 1 tbsp parmesan cheese

- 1 tbsp bread crumbs

* Simmer milk and squash until combined. Remove from heat and mix with cheese, salt, pepper, and mustard. Place cooked pasta into a "8 by 8" baking dish, stir in cheese mixture and top with parmesan cheese and bread crumbs. Bake @ 375 degrees for 20 min.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Amazing. Epic. Awesome.

Yep, that's pretty much all I have to say about that.