Saturday, March 24, 2012

Grilled lobster tails

My husband isn't the most creative or talented cook on the planet. In fact, he's more a master microwaver than anything else. My aunts gave us a fantastic grill for a wedding present, however, so he got a little more adventurous and has become quite the grill-master. One of his specialties is garlic grilled lobster tails, which I thought I would share!

We buy the lobster tails whenever they're on sale at our Harris Teeter, which makes them $5.99 each. Not something we can have every day, but a nice little treat at the end of a long work week.

First, he cuts the lobsters through the exoskeleton, then uses the butcher knife to cut through the meat. After he does that for each tail, he spoons a mixture of butter and minced garlic over the tails and lets it sit while the grill heats. That way, all that deliciousness seeps down in.


The tails then go on the grill shell-side up for about 6 minutes. Then he flips them, and spoons more of that delightful garlic butter mixture over the meat and lets it melt down into the tails. There are wonderful grill marks on the meat now.


My wonderful husband lets them cook for two more minutes, then they're ready to eat! Serve them with a little more butter for dipping--it's a religious experience!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Photo canvases

I will be the very first to admit that I do not know the first thing about photography. I've heard it has something to do with light, but that's about it. I'm kind of a point-and-shoot person who hopes to get pictures clear enough that I'll be able to remember what it was later. I also have heard something about photographing dogs on their level, so I lay in the floor with my dog a lot. That does not make me a very effective photographer while on vacation. Very rarely will your subject lie on the ground with you.

I did get some lucky shots on our trip to Savannah in August of 2010, though. We went to Bonaventure Cemetery, one of my favorite spots in the entire world. I have always had a wider-than-normal morbid streak, so this cemetery by the river is very appealing. The spanish moss and spectacular monuments take your breath away. I took a few pictures of things that stood out to me; I think they're tragically beautiful and make my heart hurt a little bit. When we got home from the trip and started looking through the pictures, these two really stood out to me. I eventually had them printed onto canvas for our living room, and now they hand over two matching chairs on a neutral-colored wall. I love having this little piece of Savannah at our home, and it's nice to be able to display two of my few-and-far-between artistic moments. I wish I could remember what company I used to make the canvas prints, but I used a groupon or living social certificate, and they aren't in my account anymore.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Jewelry Cleaner

Now that I'm in my late 20s, I think I can finally admit that my mother knows what she's talking about, after all. She was always giving me little tips to use around the house, which I clearly didn't need, as I was obviously an expert at running a house after living on my own for five minutes. Now I know that she might know a little more than I do, as she's been married and running a house for two to three people and a menagerie of animals for almost thirty years. One of those tips was her "recipe" for jewelry cleaner, which works wonders. It keeps my baubles sparkling, and I wanted to share it here!

1 teaspoon ivory liquid dish soap
1 tablespoon fantastic
2 tablespoons ammonia

Add water until your concoction reaches eight ounces. Soak your jewelry. Brush them with a toothbrush, then rinse in hot water. Put the jewelry in rubbing alcohol for as long as you can--the longer, the shinier. Rinse and wipe with a lint-free cloth.

I'm stopping by the store to get the ingredients today--my rings are looking a little sad! They aren't as sparkly as they were on our first anniversary!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Free teacher books!

Originally posted on September 18, 2011

Hey teacher friends,

The Scholastic Teacher Express store (STE) is having a great sale! A ton of their downloadable books are on sale for $1, and the discount code "10THANKS" is for $10 off your total. I ordered 10 new books for $1 each, then applied the code, and I got the downloads of 10 great books for free!

Thanks to Surviving the Stores for the heads-up!


Back to school...

Originally posted on August 9, 2011

Well, tomorrow I go back for my fifth year of teaching. Who knew I'd make it this far? Last year was a really hard year and I was pretty sure that if I lived through it, I sure wasn't going to go back and put myself through it again. But amazingly enough, when that contract showed up in my box, I signed it and turned it back in on the spot. I guess it's in my blood.

I've written previously about the welcome notes for my students, and they came yesterday. Once I get a class list, I can get them ready to go. Hopefully that will be tomorrow. We have the usual beginning of the year meetings and then some time to work in our rooms. I've been up there a few times this summer, and I have a new bookshelf for displaying books for our social studies unit, so I'm excited about that. There are still some posters to put up, and some general unpacking to do.

Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post later this week as the room gets ready for Meet the Teacher. I'm a little concerned about Thursday, when I have to be at work until 6, then go straight downtown to be late for the advisory team meeting for DG. That is the second most exhausting day of the year (#1 being Open House), but I don't want to miss the meeting, so I guess I'll have to suck it up and deal with it. The next day is an all-day ELA session at a far away school, so that will be awesome too. Dear Lord, please let me make it to Friday evening.

I'll leave you with some pictures of my classroom from last year, and we can see what changes this year.


Amazing Student Welcome Notes

Originally posted on August 7, 2011

I follow a couple of coupon blogs, and today they had a great promo code for Tiny Prints. I was very excited because I was looking for cards to fill out for my new students this year, and these couldn't have been any better. The front of the cards looked like this:



and the inside had a place for me to write the student's name, a welcome message with my contact information, and a place for me to sign. I was thrilled with them, but the price was a bit steep: $219.45 for 55 cards. However, with the promo code FRIEND99,  I paid $54.64, which was a savings of $164.81!! That's about a dollar per card, and I don't have to spend my entire life writing the messages inside. The code expires tonight, so if you want to use it, use it now!


Family!

Originally posted on December 8, 2010


We've gone from being a couple to being a family. On Saturday, we headed to the Charleston Animal Society just to see who was there. We didn't plan on bringing anyone home, but Eddie and I both fell in love. He said that the minute he saw her he knew we were taking her home. After much deliberation, we adopted her and picked her up the next morning.

Introducing... Scarlett O'Hara Kilb

She is so smart, got the all-clear by the vet, and has a widow's peak that makes her face look like a heart. She's so lovey. Eddie and I are so blessed that we could adopt baby girl and bring her home. I'm sneezy and tired, but she's so much fun to watch because she's so into her toys. Each day is an adventure with her!

Today, I'm thankful for...

Originally posted on November 20, 2010.

Today I'm thankful for my husband. Even though he's gone a lot, he's always here when it matters, including the middle of the night. My job creates problems, and his job creates problems, but somehow we keep things going. I adore Eddie, and pictures like this, from the day we made things official in 2006, make me all gooey inside.

Donor's Choose

Originally posted on November 9, 2010

After viewing amazing projects on donorschoose.org, I decided to make a request for my own classroom. There are truly amazing things happening in classrooms all over the country, and we can definitely use some additional supplies in our own room. After a great deal of thought, I decided that my students would benefit enormously from having a document camera in our classroom. I had one during my last year in Spartanburg and we used it constantly to enrich read alouds, capture images from books to project on the promethean board, and to show student work. It was especially wonderful during a math project in which students designed their dream houses and shared their designs and area and perimeter measurements with each other. We have wonderful resources at our school now, but like every other school in America, we are really feeling the budget crunch. Our classes are getting larger, but our budget is getting smaller. Having a document camera would help me expose all of my students to the materials we do have. Engaging students in peer editing of their own work using the document camera would be amazing as well. You can go to this link to read more in-depth and make a donation, if you're so inclined. Thank you for thinking about this!

Ellis Island Simulation

Originally posted on November 8, 2010

This post is dedicated to my wonderful husband, who used his day off in the MICU to come to school with me. We did our Ellis Island simulation today, and he used one of his days off to do our medical examinations. I absolutely could not have done it without him, because 26 is a lot of kids to wrangle. He had them do a few jumping jacks and looked in their throats and at their eyes. Probably the easiest physical exams he's ever done, because he got to make up the outcome. :) He is wonderful, and it was great to have him there all day!

Family

Originally posted on November 6, 2010

I hope Eddie and I are married until we look like my grandparents, and think prints like these look good. :)

13.1 Miles of Paradise

Originally posted on October 28, 2010

Let me be clear: I didn't run. As I've been saying for some time, I only run when I'm being chased. But my husband did run. He ran it in under 3 hours.

I was a wreck. He was doing better than I was heading into it. I was sitting in traffic trying to get to the finish line to pick up Ashley and Eddie, and an ambulance went by, and I cried. Not sobbed or anything, but I was so freaked out that he was going to get hurt. Thank goodness I was alone in my car. Or somewhat alone. The guy in the convertible next to me kept eyeing me. Couldn't tell whether I should be flattered or confused. Anyway.


We've decided that this Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon is going to be a tradition. Ashley and Eddie will run it (she was 53rd overall-- how ridiculous is that?), and I will drop them off, take a shower, worry, and drive to the finish line to pick up the road-wary runners. I was fantastic at my job. Except that I left Ashley at the finish line for an hour while I sat in traffic. Fail.


They are awesome. Had a great weekend. Go team!