5 Whole Years

Today, 5 years ago, I wrote my very first blog post about a 4-hour Vespa ride. Go ahead, read it if you dare!

Originally, I started this blog because the guy I was dating had what I thought was a "cool" blog with a "cool" title. Well, I figured, I liked writing and like computers and the interweb, so I thought I should give this whole new blog world a shot. So, I did. I'm amazed that I'm still writing on it, but I have enjoyed writing and amassing nearly 340 posts in the last 5 years. Since March 2008 (only 2 of the 5 years), I've had 18, 355 visitors (as of 7/26/10). One of them may have been you.

So, I'll keep going and hopefully write more interesting posts like the ones I started with. In fact, as I looked back at the archives, I found an interesting post about the Treo 700w a hybrid phone/palm pilot. I thought it was OBSCENE to have internet on your phone and be able to check your email constantly. That was the "new phone" 5 years ago! Man, it's amazing what has changed in 5 years since I started this blog:

• I've moved 6 times (within 3 different states) and have had 17 different roommates (not including family or Evan).
• I have taught in 5 different classrooms.
• I got married.
• I have traveled to Europe twice for a total of over 2 months of travel time.
• I've traveled to 12 different states.
• I went from owning NO CARS in 2005 to owning 2 cars, 1 truck, and 1 motorcycle in 2010. (3 of those are courtesy of Evan)
• I have 15 more nieces and nephews than when I started this blog!
• And I've probably gained 10 pounds :)

Happy 5th Blogiversary!

Germany is Important

I am a part of the AATG (American Association of Teacher's of German), a group who shares ideas, thoughts, and frustrations as we're trying to do our best to teach the German language. It is an AMAZING group filled with amazing people who know amazing things about the German language and how best to teach it.

One of the struggles commonly discussed on the AATG listserve is that of getting people to see the importance of German. Every year at registration time, a German teacher wonders if he/she has done his/her best to retain and recruit German students. That's just the way it goes when you teach an elective. I often tell my students that all languages are valuable for cultural, educational, and even employment reasons. However, I find that German is even more valuable than others because it allows students wonderful job and cultural opportunities that aren't necessarily available with other languages. A few fun facts:

• Did you know that Germany is 2nd only to China (for years it was the first!) as the world's leading export nation? We do a lot of business with German (T-Mobile, Mercedes, BMW, VW, etc.), Swiss and Austrian companies and banks.
• Germany has the highest heritage population in America, more so than any other ONE nation? (15.2%)
• German is the most widely spoken language in Europe. (There are 5 countries with German as a national language and German is 2nd only to English as a foreign language choice in Europe)
• Germans are the biggest spenders of tourist dollars in the world.
• With 8 million Internet domains, Germany's top-level country domain .de is second only to the extension .com. That makes German domain names even more popular than those with .net, .org, .info, and .biz extensions.
• 1 in 10 books in the world is published in German.
• German is not as hard as you think: If English is your native language, or if you already know English, then you already have an advantage when it comes to learning German. Because modern German and modern English both evolved from the common ancestor language Germanic, the two languages share many similarities in both vocabulary and grammar.
• German is important for science. Most of the world's scientists have come from or studied in German-speaking countries. Many new scientific discoveries happen in German-speaking countries, and some scientific information is only available in German. The newest elements on the Periodic Table were just discovered by a German scientist. Universities encourage science (and music!) majors to learn German.
• Germany financially sponsors over 60,000 international exchanges each year.

Well, a teacher on the AATG listserve helped simultaneously make me happy and prove my point by posting this article from the Washington Post entitled: In Recession Battle, Germany and China are Winners.

Check it out. It begins thus...

"The Great Recession rolls on, but it's not too early to single out the major powers that have come through the wreckage in the best shape. They are the ones the other major nations implore for help -- to bail out weaker economies, to diminish their dominance of the world's production and start consuming more themselves. There are just two such nations: China and Germany."

5th Time is a Charm

(Taken last summer in Potsdam)

I find myself in the tedious position yet again to be moving classrooms. In the past 3 years (4 school years), I will have been in 5 classrooms! I am HOPEFUL and fairly certain that this time I will get to stay for some time.

In the past 5 years, I have taught in 3 states and have alternated between teaching German and English (and even cooking and computer technology classes!). Aside from 1.5 years of substitute teaching in every subject known to man, I have taught 8th grade English, 7th grade Cooking, 7th grade Computer Technology, 12th grade English, AP Literature & Composition, 1st year German, and 7th grade English.

(Taken last summer in Berlin)

After all of that, I am FINALLY settling in to take over a high school German program, meaning I'll be teaching all levels of German and be in charge of German Club, our bi-annual exchange to Germany, and the fundraisers (a school-wide Oktoberfest being one of them) that go along with our exchange. I am so excited to FINALLY be settling down to teach one subject (albeit 5 different levels). I can't wait to be able to focus on bettering myself professionally in only ONE curriculum area! Germany 2011 here I come! :)

(Taken last summer in Eastern Germany in a gorgeous cliffside rock outcropping)

(Taken last summer in Berlin next to the first hole in the Berlin Wall)

(Taken last summer from the top of the Berlin Cathedral)

Summer Break Leads to Domestic Endeavors

This summer is the first summer as a teacher that I've actually taken a break. Usually, in order to supplement the LITTLE pay I get, I work as a secretary. I decided, however, to change all that and to really take a vacation. It's been nice. After 2 weeks in California, I came home and enjoyed sleeping in, getting errands done that don't happen during the school year, reading, doing family history, biking, etc. It's been great.

Then, last week, I got sick with the flu. I am now seeing this as a blessing in disguise. It forced me to stay home for an entire week. I was so fed up with laying in my bed all of the time that I started doing little projects here and there I've been meaning to do for a while! In fact, I started to go a little crazy when a whole bunch of fabric came my way from a woman in my church congregation. Last week, I...

• cooked new meals,
• baked yummy treats,
• made raspberry jam,
• created much-needed NEW wall decorations,
• sewed myself a headband,
• washed and folded 10 loads of FREE fabric (the folding alone took about 5 hours!),
• and got together my gift-giving list for Christmas.

I'm hoping this will be the year I'll handmake the Christmas presents I give. Here's to more productive days of summer break! (P.S. I was working in my new classroom yesterday. I have 40 large boxes and 4 full-size filing cabinets replete with German teaching materials and supplies. Yikes! More on that to come.)

Solved: Feed Reader and Private Blogs

A while back, I posted on the dilemma I have of remembering to read the blogs of family/friends who have theirs set to "private." I use Google Reader for all of my blog feeds, which makes it SUPER EASY to see who has posted and who hasn't... except for those who have private blogs. Recently, however, a few of my friends have done something ingenious to help me remember to check their blogs.

When they privatize their blogs, they keep their old blog URL and then transfer all of the posts to a NEW, private URL. (It's EASY TO DO! All you do is change your URL and set your blog to private. Then you open a new blog with your old URL and keep that for feed readers only.)

Each time they post, they just give a link and a title of the post on their non-private blog. Everyone who has a feed reader with their original blog URL can now easily be notified when a new post has been posted. I love it! It makes it so much easier to remember to read private blogs! If you're thinking about making your blog private, this is the way to go!

Blog Name Change

Some of you may have noticed a little name change that happened around this blog a few months back. For those inquiring minds, I'll tell you why.

Reason one: the name I chose 5 years ago when I started this blog was in German: Der Wenigste Blog Der Welt. At the time, I was dating someone who had a "cool" blog title and I wanted to think of a cool title for my blog. I thought a German title would be appropos. Hence, Der Wenigste Blog Der Welt. It roughly translates to mean the lowliest (least important) blog in the world. I thought it sounded cool, but realized that many people don't speak German and could hardly remember, let alone understand, my title. That was reason one.

Reason two: One of my former roommates commented on my blog a couple months ago and eluded to the fact that she thought I was not married and that Evan and were still dating. (Yes, we're still dating, but yes, we're also married.) I thought that changing my blog name to be "Stout Stories" (I love alliteration!) and having a header replete with Evan and I on our wedding day would clue those who don't know in to the fact that, yes, after 3 years of dating we having been happily married for nearly a year now. YAY!

So, that's it folks. That's why the name change.

The HopeFear Project

My friend, Evan, (not to be confused with my husband, Evan) is a graphic designer and a good one at that. I am constantly AMAZED by his artistic and design abilities and inclinations. He uses the most creative mediums to come up with a fantastic and innovative design and style.

Well, Evan is about to graduate with his Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Graphic Design. For his culminating project, he started up a website last year called The HopeFear Project. It is a place where people can anonymously share their hopes and fears. It's an amazing creation that really helps to connect the world in a way I wouldn't have anticipated at the project's beginning. He has had thousands of submissions worldwide. Check it out!

P.S. Here is a video he created to explain it on Vimeo.

Fun Way to Manage Prisoners OR Just Really Cool?

Check out this AMAZING video of inmates who choreographed a dance together. What do you think? Should we start this up in the USA? Are they merely encouraging them to WANT to stay in prison? Either way, I think I sense a reduced sentence coming on...

Oddly Enough: The Flu Leads to Baking Frenzy

On Sunday, my throat had a slight and unusual itch to it. By Monday morning, after a night of 2 hours of sleep, I was coughing up my lungs and had a fever of 102.8 degrees. For some reason, since I had a lot of time on my hands and was laying there doing nothing, I started pulling cookbooks off the shelves and reading them. Weird, I know.

Maybe it's because I felt bad that Evan would have to suffer with me laying around (he could have figured it out, I'm sure) or maybe it's because I was so sick of laying down, I decided to actually start making some recipes from the cookbooks I'd read. (Not sure if this was a wise idea, but my fever broke somewhere thereafter.)

Here are some EXCELLENT recipes that I have enjoyed the past two days of being down and out. The first two come from Bride and Groom: First and Forever Cookbook. The third one comes from Taste of Home's Fast Fixes with mixes. Both cookbooks were wedding presents.

Orzo Salad with Lemon, Feta, and Pine Nuts

I loved this recipe! I had happened to buy orzo past a few weeks ago

because it caught my eye in the bulk foods section. I randomly stumbled

on this recipe as I was reading through and realized it was time to break out the orzo!

Click picture to go to image location

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (I used sea salt)

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 cup orzo

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4 cup golden raisins (I used cranberries)

3 tablespoons finely chopped pitted black olives

3 tablespoons finely chopped red onion

1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil

2 oz. crumbled feta cheese (I used more!)

1/2 cup sliced red grapes (my addition)

• Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, pepper, and sugar in a small bowl.
• Fill large pot three quarters full of water. Bring to a boil, add in salt and the orzo pasta. Cook about 10 minutes or until tender, but slightly firm to bite.
• Meanwhile, put the pine nuts in a dry small skiller over medium-low heat. Shake constantly until evenly toasted on all sides (about 5 minutes).
• Drain the orzo and foild the oil mixture into the orzo pasta. Let cool to room temperature.
• Add in the pine nuts, raisins (or cranberries), olives, red onion, and basil. Stir to combine.
• Add the feta cheese and toss lightly. Voila! You're done. :) Enjoy this summer-appropriate salad!

Salmon with Honey-Mustard Glaze

This recipe took as long as it takes to thaw salmon.
It was amazingly simple, but incredibly delicious. Try it!

Image via here

2 skinless salmon fillets (8 oz. each)
3 tablespoons stone-ground mustard (I used regular mustard and it came out fine!)
2 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
8 crushed crackers

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aliminum foil.
• Place salmon on the prepared baking sheet.
• Combine mustard, sour cream, honey, and dill weed in a small bowl. Spread over the top of the fillets.
• Sprinkle with cracker crumbs.
• Cook in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until barely cooked through. See, I told you it was easy!

Can't Leave Alone Bars

Evan left to go to the temple and to visit my brother without me.

I decided to make these bars as a surprise for him when he got home. They are SUPER easy to make.

I added a little mint extract because I know how my man likes his mint and chocolate.
Image via here

1 package white cake mix (I used butter! Use whatever flavor you have.)

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil. It tastes better to me!)

1 can (14 0z.) sweetened condensed milk

(Make sure it's NOT evaporated milk! I accidently used evaporated.

I then had to run to the store to grab sweetened condensed. Whoops!)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup butter, cubed

• In a bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, and oil.
• Press two-thirds of the mixture into a greased 13x9in. baking pan. Set remaining cake mixture aside.
• In a medium sauce pan, combine the milk, chocolate, and butter on medium heat until smooth. (The recipe says to do it in the microwave, but I think it's easier to monitor on the stove!)
• Pour over crust. Drop teaspoonfuls of remaining cake mixture over the top.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool before cutting!

Indonesian Adventures

For those of you who know my "little" sister, you'll agree with me that she is like Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way. (Except when she tickles me... at that point, she is FAR from perfect.) She is one of the most amazing people that I know!

5 years ago, she began serving a mission in Hong Kong, China for our church. She was called to speak Indonesian and to serve and teach Indonesian women who had moved away from their families to earn money to ship back home. She has told us so many humbling and heartbreaking stories from the women she met and grew to love through her service.

During her mission, she also learned to speak tagalog, malay (language of Malaysia) and some Cantonese and Mandarin. See, I told you she was amazing! She loves practicing these languages and has had the hope of one day going traveling to use her language abilities to serve others.

Fast forward a few years. Last year, her husband worked for our church's humanitarian service organization as an internship for his master's degree. The opportunity came up to travel with one of two US Navy hospital ships doing humanitarian service for 5 weeks in Indonesia this summer. After months of praying and decision-making, my little sister and her husband decided to do it! Zandy has been SO EXCITED to use her language skills again!

Right now, they are en route on the US Navy hospital ship to Indonesia (they may already be there). I'm so proud of Zandy and Shane for their endless charity and devotion to serve others. I know that Zandy and Shane will be blessed for the service they give.

If you're interested, they started up a blog to catalogue their adventures: Shane and Zandy.

Stout Sailing School

Sometime since we've moved back from Hawaii, Evan and his dad bought a Hobiecat (catamaran... double hulled sailboat). Evan, his dad, and his brother all have enjoyed using the boat. For months and months, Evan has said how much he wants to teach ME how to sail. I went sailing a few times with my uncle when I was a kid, but had never really learned how to sail.

Last Tuesday, Evan had the day off of school and the wind (and weather) looked perfect. So, we headed out on what Evan calls the "Stout Sailing School." (He threw in "of love" at the end of it because I was on the boat with him and he loves me. It makes me smile.)

The day could not have been more beautiful and the weather and, more importantly, the WIND couldn't have been better. In fact, Evan said that he thinks the day sailing with me was the best day he's ever had sailing. I think it had more to do with the fact that I was on the boat than that the wind was amazing, but that's just me. :)

We put in on South Lake Washington in Seattle and sailed under two separate (and large) bridges in the area. I usually manned the front of the boat and the jib (smaller sail in the front) and Evan took care of the main sail and the rudders. When he thought I'd learned enough, he forced me to man the rudder. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be and I had a lot of fun! (The actual hardest part of the adventure was setting up the boat and taking everything down. The take down and drying out the ropes took about an hour, which was tiring after a long day of sailing in the sun!)

The only "bad" part of the day was when we capsized, which apparently is easy to do on a catamaran. Evan was trying to "fly the hull," meaning sail with only one hull in the water. We kept sailing for a few minutes afterwards when a HUGE gust of wind came and knocked our boat clear over. I have to say that I was pretty angry at the time (because I thought that Evan was messing around), but it turned out to be a fun Stout Family Adventure! We're hoping to go sailing again next Tuesday if the weather permits. More sailing adventures to come!

Puget Sound Adventures

Last Saturday (7/3), Evan and I helped my brother get a little more settled into his new apartment. When we left, it was too late in the afternoon to go hiking, so we decided instead to go to the beach! It was only a 10 minute drive from my brother's apartment. I always forget that we have beaches so close to us here in the Seattle area. We stopped by a few different beaches to walk around on the pier, collect shells (I found little baby sand dollars that were no bigger than the top of my pinky finger), and just enjoy the beach and some sun. (Evan also had an ulterior motive to scout out the sailing in those areas.) Viva la Puget Sound!

Visiting Friends In Cali

Another fun part of going to California this summer was visiting friends. My old roommate, Michelle, met up with us at Disneyland. We had fun eating at CPK (California Pizza Kitchen), drinking smoothies, and walking around downtown Disney. She told me when I was there that she's pregnant! I'm really excited for her. She is a talented graphic designer and has so many wonderful qualities that will make her a great mother!

I also had the opportunity to see my best friend from high school, Rachel, on our way up to Yosemite. She's pregnant too (with her second)! We walked around an outdoor mall and just talked for a while (my family stopped to stock up on things at Target). It was so fun to see her and catch up. The picture below of us doing a number one sign is an inside joke from when we were in Germany together on an exchange in 1999. Germans count the number one with their fingers using their thumbs. We were trying to tell our exchange partners "Good Job!" at a perfomance they did. We used our thumbs to do this and then realized that it's like we were saying "Number 1." For some reason, we thought this was hilarious and have done it in photos pretty much every time we see each other since then! :)

Disneyland & Other California Adventures

We are back. After 2 weeks of not sleeping in my own bed (or using my own toilet!), I am back home. Man, is it nice! I missed Evan and I missed having all of my own stuff handy. And, can I tell you how nice it is to not be cooped up in a van with 7 people stopping to go to the bathroom in many "restaurant" or gas station bathrooms? Yeah, it's definitely good to be home. :)

Our trip started out with a family wedding the day I flew down to California. The wedding was gorgeous (overlooking the ocean) and it was so nice to be with so many family there. We also spent some time at Huntington Beach before our 5-day Disneyland/California Adventure EXTRAVAGANZA!

It was so fun to meet up with (at one point 23) family members to hang out at Disneyland. I will admit that at times it was overwhelming and a bit stressful with 13 children and 10 adults. Deciding who was watching which kids and who was going to go on what ride was somewhat of a challenge, but we had a lot of fun! At one point, we all decided to take a break from Disneyland for a day. We just hung out at the pool and relaxed because Disneyland was getting to stressful.

All in all, we had a great time. A few of our favorite parts of our time there was the Toy Story Mania ride where you wear 3-D glasses and get to play 5 video games. It was awesome! We also loved the new World of Color water show. It was breathtaking!
Slowly but surely, all of the family members left, except for my older sister's family and me. They invited me to drive with them home. On our way, we stopped in Yosemite National Park. I wish Evan could have been there with me. The views were breathtaking, but I cannot imagine how much more amazing it would have been to go rock climbing there. Evan would love it!

We stayed for a few days in Windsor, California. It was SO NICE to just relax and not rush around anywhere. We all enjoyed playing in the pool (and I enjoyed reading). Once we left Windsor, we began our jaunt home. We calculated that from Windsor it would take us about 14 hours, not including stops. It ended up taking us anywhere from 19-20 plus an overnight stay. But, we had fun stopping in the Redwood Forest on the way. We had been there before, but that was before any of my sister's kids were born. All of our favorite part of our drive through the Redwood Forest was this BEAUTIFUL beach. We climbed all over rocks in the ocean and found crabs and sea anemones. The kids were in heaven! We stayed there until dark just so we could enjoy the area.

All in all, it was a good trip. Evan and I realized that 2 weeks was MUCH too long to be apart. Evan told me that next time I plan on going anywhere he is going with me! We'll see how that works out next summer when I take my students to Germany for a month. :)

Make Your Own Ice Pops

Pop on over to Our Fab Finds for a new post: Make Your Own Ice Pops! Enjoy!

Image via here

4th of July Adventures, 2010

(Written 12/30/10:) Even though Evan and I have been together for nearly 4 years, this is only the 2nd time we've spent he 4th of July together! One year, he was living in Hawaii (that was before I moved there) and last year I was in Germany on July 4th.

This year, we went to my sister's house. They have a big yard with an open view of all of the firework shows in the area. My brother-in-law's family all joined us for the festivities. Evan and I brought s'more materials for the kids and Evan set up a fire. One of the girls was trying to stop the fire on her marshmallow and accidentally caught her hair on fire! Thank goodness I have no fire and whipped the burning marshmallow off of her hair. My fingers are a little burnt, but at least I saved her hair!

Another fun thing that my brother-in-law's brother has done at a few family get-togethers is to send off Chinese lanterns. They're awesome to watch! One of the ones below got caught in the neighbors tree. We were worried we were going to have another fire on our hands! Happy Independence Day, Everyone! :)