March's Randoms

This month's randoms all have to do with the library:

1. As Evan and I were walking out of the library one evening, we saw this hard core truck with its wares in a plastic case for all to see. Nice.
2. Evan trying to sleep as I was reading one night. I may or may not also have been trying to tickle him. I can neither confirm nor deny that.
3. I saw this movie while at the library and had to text it to Evan. Our joke is that I'm a menehuhe. This movie, therefore, must be the story of our lives in Hawaii.

Last month's randoms HERE.

Viel zu Ueberfordert! (Translation: Much too overwhelmed)

Do you ever just feel so overwhelmed that you don't know what to do next? Like your TO-DO list is well over a mile long and you don't know how to start? That is how I feel today. I am OVERWHELMED. I love my job and I am really happy with my life and what I'm doing, but I still just feel overwhelmed with all I must accomplish in a short amount of time!

Here are a few reasons why:

• 3rd quarter is ending next week, which means that 3rd quarter grades are due.
• My Professional Certification paper is due SOON. I'm not even 1/3 of the way through it. If I don't finish it, I wasted $425 and will have to do a more difficult version of it next year without the school support I'm receiving this year. Let's pray that doesn't happen.
• Being the only German teacher at the school means that I'm the only German teacher at the school and I have to do everything that for years TWO German teachers did: German Club on my own, fundraising, our Germany exchange program (I'm receiving help right now with travel plans from the retired German teacher and she is going on the exchange with me, THANK GOODNESS!).
• 25 German students and their 2 teachers are coming 2 weeks from tomorrow!
• This means that I have to create 25 different schedules for the students. I am also in helping them plan out their exchange here in US to make sure it's a success. This means corresponding and planning with parents the welcome/farewell parties. It also means ensuring that the German students and teachers have a success exchange here in the US with each of their host families.

I won't go into more details, but it's just a lot. Not to mention family and church obligations and my normal classroom duties of teaching all levels of German.

What do you do when life gets overwhelming? How do you start to tackle all that you know inevitably you must?

My First ETSY Purchase

ETSY. The ebay for handmade (or vintage) items. Before a few weeks ago, I had only heard tales of the beautiful things that are to be found there, but I hadn't actually taken much time to see for myself. Well, Martawrites wrote about a gift she received from a website. One look at the bracelet and I was hooked! Of course, it didn't hurt that I also found some ADORABLE pink earrings. The kind I've been searching for for months. That was that. I signed up for an ETSY account and received the following in the mail. These products definitely didn't let me down! Check out PrettyElizaMae's shop

Tiger Mountain Summit

Cleaned house, temple, hike up Tiger Mountain... It's been a good day! Off to eat some dinner.

Saturday Adventures Continue!

The last few Saturdays, Evan and I have been up to our old tricks again. Here's to our Saturday Adventures!

3/5/11- We met up with the MacDonalds in North Seattle and hiked around in St. Edwards State Park. If anyone ever told you that the Puget Sound and surrounding area is not beautiful, they were lying. It's beautiful YEAR ROUND. We love hanging out with the MacDonalds and their 2 adorable kids, Nina & Elena.

3/12/11- Evan and I decided early last week we were going to brave all 8 miles and 4,000+ feet of Mt. Si last weekend. It was rainy for the first 2 miles and then snowy from about mile 2 on, but we were prepared with our mountaineering boots, rain shells, and trekking poles. I was feeling good for most of the mountain, except the last 1/2 mile to the top and the last 1/2 mile until the bottom. I don't know what it is about knowing you're about done that makes you feel like you're about done. Here are some of our previous times up the mountain with stats: 2009, 2010.

P.S. I couldn't believe there were these amazing little birds flying through the snowy conditions at the top. I had to get a picture of it! They were brave little guys to be out in all that snow.

Dressing Room Woes

Admission: I don't like shopping. Sure, just like anyone else, I LOVE getting stuff and wearing said stuff. But, I don't like the physical act of walking around in a store hunting for deals, trying on clothes & shoes that never seem to fit right. I usually end up going home empty-handed. Miraculously, I still fit into the pants I purchased 10 years ago, otherwise I would be in trouble!
Well, every now and then my curiosity gets the best of me and I decide against my will that it's time to peruse the stores for all those fabulous deals I see my friends getting. Usually my shopping happens when I have a day off of school, which means that I never have anyone to go with me. This poses a problem when I need confirmation that something I think is cute on, actually is.

It is for that purpose, that the following photos were taken and sent to my sisters and Evan. I went with the opinion of whoever responded the fastest. I still wish I would have bought that grey sweater and that dress from H&M in Chicago. Sigh.

Flag Colors, Part II

Here is another flag picture from the middle of January! I'm telling you, I think about flags a lot when I'm working in the kitchen. When these are the colors you're using, it can't be helped!

Read about previous flag thoughts HERE...

We're crazy... We're still going to do an eight mile hike in this weather!

RIP Toshiba DVD Player

In December 2002, my dear friend, Darcy, moved out of Autumn Winds #304. I was devastated (still kind of am... before I got married, I lived with her longer than I'd lived with anyone else outside of my family). When Darcy left she took her fabulous DVD player with her, even though she kindly left the red shag carpet and our restaurant booth (another post for another day).

In January 2003, therefore, I was FORCED out of sheer necessity to buy my Toshiba DVD player. The batteries in the controller never went bad. I'm not kidding. Eight years later and hundreds of DVDS later, those babies are still ticking! The DVD player, however, is not. It started skipping and wouldn't play DVDs properly 15 months ago.

Even though we got a new DVD player for Christmas December 2009, I could NOT get rid of this DVD player that held so many memories for me. It was one of the first electronic devices I ever purchased for myself. I watched hundreds of DVDs with good friends, lovers, roommates, and even complete strangers using this Toshiba DVD player. It was with me throughout a majority of my college days and beyond. Memories were made with this little DVD player. So, I kept determined to keep it even if it skipped through DVDs and wouldn't play them properly. I refused to give it up and would glance at it every time I had to get the vacuum out of the storage closet.

Well, it's taken me 15 months, but I finally bit the bullet and pulled the broken DVD player out of the closet. I prepared it to get rid it. I had the remote and everything. But then, I found I couldn't. Afraid I would get it out of the garbage, I put it outside and told Evan that he had to get rid of it without me knowing. Talk about sentimental for a stupid hunk of metal!

So, RIP Toshiba DVD player. You were good to me for a long time. We have a lot of memories. But, my SONY DVD player has replaced you. You'll always hold a special place in my heart.

Sincerely, Stressed in the Kitchen

Dear Abby,

I love cooking. I really do. I may complain about raw chicken, but in the end, I don't mind cooking with whatever materials will make a delicious meal!

For some reason, however, I've been having a struggle thinking about WHAT food to make. I feel like sometimes when I think of cooking, I only think of time-consuming meals that stress me out because of the lack of time I have! At the end of a long school day, I want to come home and cook for 20-30 minutes and end up with a delicious meal.

I have plenty of fresh ingredients in my kitchen! With WINCO so close, we go to the grocery store often enough to have a plethora of yummy ingredients. The hard part for me is what to do with them. I stare in the fridge and my mind goes blank. I'm hungry and need something fast. What to cook?

This is why I need HELP. I own 5 cookbooks, I subscribe to a few cooking blogs and even have some recipe ideas saved. The few times I've planned out my week's meals ahead of time made my life SO MUCH easier! However, it's hard to find the time to search through recipes, especially ones that will utilize similar ingredients.

I would appreciate any ideas on meal planning and making relatively easy meals.

Sincerely,
Stressed in the Kitchen

UW Language Day

This year, I had the chance to go up to the University of Washington during the school day to chill at the UW Language Day with students. While students were at the classes, I had a lot of fun walking around the U-District and going to my favorite art and clothing stores. I stocked up on art supplies and even found a cute sweater to boot. It sure was nice to be away from the classroom for a day enjoying beautiful weather and a beautiful campus.

Jewelry Maker Extraordinaire

Did you know that Evan makes jewelry? He started in high school and has just kept the hobby up over the years. In fact, he surprised me with an engagement ring out of silver and then a white gold wedding ring he designed and made. (He made one for himself too!) Here are our rings:

In the past 4.5+ years since we've been dating and married, he's made me 2 rings, earrings, a necklace, and has even resoldered TWICE a CTR ring I've been wearing for 13 years. He really likes to create jewelry. He's a funny guy. He'll go from ice climbing all day to coming home and soldering to create himself a chain in the evening.

Right now, he is working on a silver chain for climbing so that he can wear his wedding ring around his neck while he's climbing. (Right now he just wears it, which can make climbing harder sometimes.) I love seeing him solder, even though it means having two gas tanks in my apartment and does involve blue flame near my valuables. In spite of my fears, he hasn't blown anything up yet. Here's a picture I took last week because I think his glasses for soldering are hilarious.

Der Beste Mann & Sonstiges

So, I have the best MAN in the world. (RANDOM SIDE NOTE: In German, when you say my man, it means your husband... They don't have a word for husband or wife.)

I was driving home from school after a meeting and taking my niece home from track because my sister couldn't leave 4 kids (including a brand new baby) to get her. I was starving and a little stressed knowing that Evan had to go to Scouts. I didn't want him to go hungry, but also didn't want him to have to make dinner again. (I'm fairly certain he cooks and bakes more than I do.) Well, I called him and asked him to get the recipe I saved on the computer and at least get out the ingredients and dethaw the chicken. I got home and he did everything. Dinner was practically done... and yummy to boot! I'm really glad to be married to someone who will not only cook the meat for me when I am not keen on it, but will cook for me more often than I cook for him!

We had Garlic Chicken with Orzo and Spinach. YUM! I got it off of Tasty Kitchen last night when I was searching for orzo recipes. Love that site.

Here is Evan a few days ago making up a recipe for apple dumplings with a caramel drizzle. The drizzle was delicious and the dumplings would have been as well if his wife wouldn't have put baking soda in the baking powder container. Whoops!

Lastly, because I know that Evan never checks my blog and doesn't even care to know the URL, here is a creepy picture of him at the end of January (25th to be exact!) when he was in the middle of shaving off his two-month beard. He threatened to keep his 'stache like this permanently. HOT! I think his boss might have fired him because he would have scared the students away! (Did I tell you Evan got a job? He's a tutor at his college for Statistics, Anat. & Phys, plus other Math and Science classes.) I love this guy.

February's Randoms

Now, I know you're wondering: What do wax beans, an "I Love You" sign, and Evan all have to do with February? I'll go through this step-by-step.

1. Wax beans = fun when you become a BEAN FARMER in the board game Bohnanza. Dig it. Evan and were introduced to this game last month by some friends and we didn't wait a week until we had it for our very own. I saw these beans on a trip at the grocery store and about died laughing. I didn't know wax beans were REAL!
2. I was shopping at Target one day and saw this print. I love you, but not like that. I only love Evan like that.
3. Evan pictured playing "the plate game" (AKA rummikub) with me.

And that's it for this months randoms all taken with my handy, dandy cellular telephone.