Bored?

If you're bored, I have a solution. Go visit www.scrapblog.com and have a great time. That's how I got my blog picture thingy at the top of the page. I think I've found a new love.

It had to end...

...summer that is. This week I started getting back on a wake up earlier schedule. It's painful. And when school starts, it will be an hour and a half earlier with no hope of a nap during the day. I just must look back and ask, where has the summer gone?

1 Year Anniversary in Rome, Italy!

Spending Time With Good Friends

Picking Blueberries!

It's been pretty fun. I'm sad it's almost over!

A tasty breakfast

Brian doesn't work on Fridays, so I decided to make french toast for breakfast to usher in our weekend. I have always disliked french toast and pancakes because ususally you eat those things with maple syrup - which I really dislike. After some searching I found a good recipe for the french toast and some yummy syrup. It turned out great! There were two things, I think, that made it so great. 1 - Home made bread and 2 - the syrup. So here are the recipes for each - if you're up for some really great breakfast!

Andrea's Grandma's French Bread

* 2 and 1/2 c. warm water (between 90 and 95 degrees)
* 1/4 c. oil
* 1/3 c. sugar
* 2 t. salt
* 1 egg
* 2 packages active dry yeast (about 2 T.)
* about 7 cups of flour (I almost always use all - and I like to use 1 c. whole wheat flour and the rest white flour - it's not very tasty to use all whole wheat...)

This is easiest if you have a kitchen-aid!

Add oil, sugar, salt and egg to bowl. Then add water and yeast. Mix with flat beater until 1/2 of flour has been added. Switch to dough hook, slowly add remaining flour and run mixer for 5-10 minutes. Cover bowl with a towel and let raise (about 45 min). Remove dough and divide in half. Knead each section until you have a nice smooth ball. ( I use my counter top - sprinkled with lots of flour to keep it from sticking and use my palms to pull the dough from the outside to the middle to make the ball) Set both balls on a greased cookie sheet (air bake sheets don't work well - I use a large jelly roll pan). Let sit - covered for ten minutes. Using a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 10ish by 12ish sheet (maybe 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick). Roll sheets tightly to make the loaf. Seal and pinch the edges underneath (so it looks nicer). Put back on the baking sheet seam side down. Let raise again until the rolls of dough have doubled (or a little more).

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes

FRENCH TOAST
*4 eggs
* 2 T. milk (I used vanilla creamer)
* 1/4 t. ground cinnamon
* 1 t. vanilla
* bread slices - I used seven fairly thick slices of the bread from above recipe

Beat cinnamon and eggs together; add mil. Dp bread into mixture until coated. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan. Cook bread slices until they are golden brown.

SYRUP
* 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
* 1/2 c. white sugar
* 2 T. all purpose flour
* 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
* 1 t. vanilla extract
* 1. c water

Stir together the white sugar, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small sauce pan. Stir in vanilla extract and water. Bringto a rolling boil, stirring often. Continue to boil and stir until mixture thickens to syurp consistency. Remove from heat. Cool 10 min. before serving.

Let me know what you think. The syrup and french toast recipes I got from allrecipes.com.

Ah...Summer

I must say, the best part of my job...summers off. The last three have been particularly wonderful, but I think one of the reasons it is so great is that most of my friends are also teachers and are home during the summer. So, here are some of my favorite things about summer (in no particular order).

1. Sleeping in
2. Staying up late
3. Not showering until AFTER lunch
4. Doing laundry during the week instead of 5 straight hours of it on Sunday
5. Grocery shopping without crowds when the rest of the world is working
6. Going to the Farmers Market
7. Random lunch dates/hangouts with friends during the week
8. NOT grading papers
9. Flip Flops
10. TOMATOES!
11. Taking naps
12. Occasionally feeling bored
13. Watching Jon and Kate Plus 8
14. The overall feeling of being relaxed all the time.

Ok. I think being a stay at home wife sounds like a great job. Too bad it doesn't pay a salary with benefits.

Money! Money! Money!

Ah...this has seemed to be a big topic of discussion around our house lately! I feel as though Brian and I are starting to transition out of our honeymoon phase - not that we aren't totally in love and enjoying marriage to the max - but we are starting to enter into the big decision part of life. Kids, house, blah. How do we best honor God with our money? Can I stay home with our kids when we have kids? When exactly should we have kids? Should we get different jobs? What do we really need in life? I feel extremely challenged after many conversations about money this week. Summer is often an awful time for me with regards to spending money. I'm home all day and shopping is one of my favorite things to do. I'm not ridiculous with my spending, but I know that I sure could do with a lot less stuff! Brian re-worked our budget this week based on a few changes in the past few months and now that I know where our money is going (who knew you'd spend so much on TP once you got married?) I want to see how little I can spend on things I can control. I guess I'm going to follow in the steps of my best friend and become a proud owner of a coupon organizer. :)

The challenge is on. At least for now, while I have plenty of time to find good deals and coupon clip!

I spend to much time reading others....

Many years ago in college I blogged. Back then I used Xanga and had NO idea that the word blogging existed. I took it down when I began teaching high school students, for fear that they would find me. Although I searched for my own site and never found it, my husband somehow managed to - and I was therefore afraid that my students might be able to do the same.

Anyways, I spend SO much time reading other people's blogs that I thought I would create one of my own before a fun name was taken. The one I wanted to use was already taken by a woman named "Terry" and she hasn't even posted a thing, even though she created it back in 2003. I guess the same could eventually happen to me if we never end up with kids...honestly, that's why I'm creating this. I hope one day I'll be able to use this to help keep up with friends and family when/if Brian and I have kids. We want to do so someday - but only the Lord knows when!