first day of school!

So today I survived my first day of school- woo hoo! There were a million things to do, and being my first public school "first day of school", it definitely gave me flashbacks. I love seeing the kids I had last year with new haircuts and new clothes, nearly everybody was completely excited to be back. (I did have one of my ESOL kids tell me "hi. I guess." when I said hello. :)

I love how shy all the kids are- the ones who'd hug you everytime you passed in the hall give this little "I remember you but I'm still little and get shy at everything" wave. It's so cute!

I don't start working on my caseload until schedules for pull-outs are arranged, which usually takes a few weeks to happen. That means the next two weeks will be parent phone calls, form filing, copying, arranging and being awesome-ing. I dont start tutoring until September- which means I actually have evenings at home for a week!

I've been considering the pro's and con's of having to go back to work after summer "break" ( I use the word loosely... if you know my schedule, you understand)

Pros: seeing co-workers and students you like; being fed breakfast and goodies at least once a week; not having to watch daytime talk shows; working at times people with normal jobs work; doing something I enjoy a lot; knowing that working at school is the best because even though summer is over Labor Day is less than a week away! And the numerous days off we'll have between now and Thanksgiving are a definite plus.

Cons: getting up early; packing lunch and dinner; missing on going out during a weekday when stores are quiet and places aren't so packed; meetings; co-workers and students you don't like; having a million things to do; the commute; being in a portable.

I think the pro's win- lets hope it lasts the school year!

it's hot in the kitchen?

Ok, so though I occasionally cook, I'm not a huge fan of it. Reason? I have no patience. The only thing that keeps me even attempting it is that the past few times I've made something it's come out really good! My Grammie is here for the weekend, and to impress her I dug up some inspiration and made an Italian easy summer dinner- pasta with shrimp and parmesan wafers and salad.

I saw on Everyday Italian Giada made these Parmesan cheese wafers- they look almost like cookies- and thought it looked easy, and it was! To make them, you mix one cup of finely grated parm, slice 3-5 leaves of fresh basil, and zest of half a lemon. I used fresh Parmesan so I'm not sure how the ready grated stuff melts, but the fresh was soooo good, I'm not sure I'd try it! Stir ingredients together, and place in teaspoons on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes- I'd start checking at 3 because they cook fast! Once the edges are golden, they're done! Set aside to let cool and you're good to go. My mom even stacked them on her salad so they looked more impressive. She and my Grammie raved- they turned out well! They're a little greasy (as melted cheese tends to be) so I kept them in paper towels until we were ready to eat. The recipe makes about 12 wafers- they end up being about two inches around.



I made pasta and instead of sauce just sautéed ( thats right, I sautée things!) shrimp, red onions, garlic, kalamata olives and tomatoes in olive oil. Add feta cheese to the top once everything is cooked and together and you're done! For me, the hardest part of making dinner like this is the timing everything- shrimp takes a few minutes, onions need longer, blah blah blah. Luckily I didn't burn anything and no one's going hungry tonight!

At some point I'd like to learn to cook beef- I've got chicken and shrimp done, fish I'm ok with but other than making tacos I've never cooked red meat. Once I cook up some good man steaks or something I'll make a post for that! :) Have a good weekend all!

Here goes kids!

Well, I decided that it was time to jump in, be a geek and start a blog. Seeing as how my sister has one and my best has one I want to join the herd and get one too! I figure it's a good opportunity to share school/tutoring tips for anyone crazy enough to work with kids plus share all the cool stuff I get from them! I've also started to cook, so that in the off chance I become a grown up and actually cook often, I'll be ready. Since I turned 25 I've tried to read at least a book a month, since before then I realized I hadn't read for fun in years (Including the two years I was an employee at Barnes and Noble), so any good reads I'll post also. I'll include any cool updates about me... which may be the least exciting, but it's my blog, so I'll do what I want!

My summer up to this point has been spent tutoring my ESOL kids, most of whom I've worked with for the past three years. Anyone considering private tutoring (teachers especially) I highly recommend it! The parents I work for are so gracious, and the kids are (for the most part) really well behaved. They also are the reason I've scored some really nice and sometimes really weird teacher gifts! One student spent the beginning of the summer in Korea, and knowing my love of mis-translated Asian stationary bought me presents! I found a lot of it on the website- the company is called Artbox. My favorite was a fan with weird cartoon animals and random French words... it's awesome. If you follow the link, check out anything that says "100% Happy Virus"... nothing else could make the word "virus" look cute than cuddly cartoons!

http://www.artbox.co.uk/stationery-c-35.html?osCsid=f801c9618a5d52e505e511e81d901cd8


School supplies are on sale, and if anyone remembers that Staples commercial from a few years ago, it is the most wonderful time of the year. For me at least. Dont remember the commercial? Well, thank goodness for youtube! Staples Commercial.

Tip: I've found bribing kids to be an essential part of teaching and tutoring. Getting a kid to give up 3 hours of their day, 4 days a week, all summer requires a lot of patience, and a lot of junk to bribe them with. None of my tutoring parents are too crazy about me sugaring their kids up with candy (all the time at least) so jazzy school supplies have been my sanity all summer. Bendy pencils- way hip. (Disclaimer.... harmful when used as whip. Just a heads up.)

Last big thing for now... last Friday I cut nine inches off my hair. Reason? I've never had short hair, figured why not. Donating it so the American Cancer Society can make wigs for people who can't afford them- good cause. Besides, it's a lot easier to stop when I start to complain about it when I have to tell myself "It's for charity." (Or, at least I can stop complaining out loud. To myself however, I can stop whenever I want to.)

More later kids!