Just in case this happens to you…

If you happen to be boiling pasta and your sink breaks and you need a place to drain the pasta, I would advise not draining the pasta over your grass. Who knew that scalding hot pasta water killed grass? This event was several months ago. Watering, re-seeding and fertilizer still has not revived the grass.

Question for the scientific out there…..who done it? The scalding water or the starch in the water?

Just in case anyone has been sitting on pins and needles wondering what happened…

A while ago I began looking into renewing my CA teaching credential. I had conflicting information about what was required; just paying a fee, or completion of hours & teaching days. I received an email from the commission that seemed to state that all that was required was payment of the renewal fee.

Well, I am here to report that after completing the online renewal form, I only had to pay the renewal fee. I was curious if there would be any questions regarding my professional growth hours, or number of teaching days completed, but there wasn’t any of that. So pending my approval by the commission, that should take place in 10 days or less, I am renewed.

My how times have changed. My 1999 self would have never guessed that 9 years later our little group would turn into this:How did that happen? Weren’t we just teaching, worrying about what tomorrow’s lesson plan would be? Now look at us…3 mothers, 6 children, living thousands of miles apart, having play dates at the park. I love these friends! I am so glad that even busy schedules, and thousands of miles don’t get in the way.

We had a very fun day together. It was so great to see our kids playing together, enjoying their play time. It is too bad these days cannot happen more often.

Today is my buddy Libby’s birthday. She turns 8 years old today. She is a very special gal I hope that she has a very special birthday…especially since she only gets one every 4 years! You can help make her birthday extra special..go buy one of her fabulous products, either here or here. I have had my eye on her “The Original” skirt for quite some time. Anything catch your fancy?

Live it up today Libby! Happy Birthday!

update straight from Libby Dibby herself: For 48 hours, come shopping at www.libertyworth.com and get 15% off everything on the site! Enter BDAY in the voucher line on the checkout page and enjoy.

Do you dislike mopping? I do. Well that isn’t totally true. I like mopping, until I notice how dirty the water is, then I want to quit. If I really wanted to be a super house cleaner I would change the water in the bucket as soon as the water got murky.

Enter The Shark. Thanks to my Mother I have found the answer to my mopping woes. All the joy of mopping without using a bucket of murky water. With two little ones in the house I had to clean the floors while they were in bed since it is impossible to keep them from running on the wet floor. Now I can clean the floors anytime. The water/steam is so hot that it dries in just a few minutes. It really does get the floor clean. I can use it on our hard wood floors too.

If you want one the cheapest place to get it is Linens & Things, using their 20% off coupon. (if you don’t have one just print this one. just click on it to make it larger for printing.)

I have used the steam mop so many times in the last two days I have a blister. I think I am slightly obsessed.

I saw these super cute dessert plates and had to get them. I love all things cupcake!

My sister called me tonight…”Got 10 minutes to mix up a dessert?”, she asked. She whipped this up and knew that I would love it too. So, not long later we were munching on this piece of yumminess.

Enjoy.

First mix the following ingredients together and spread into a very well greased 8×8 pan:
1 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbs. cocoa
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbs. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla

Then, mix the following together and sprinkle evenly over the batter:
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbs. cocoa

Last pour 1 cup of boiling water (or 1 cup strong hot coffee if you want a mocha flavor) over the whole thing.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream. Yummy!

For some reason I have had high school on the brain. I was looking through my old photo albums and found all my prom photos. My first formal dance went terribly, but all the rest were actually fun. It’s been a while so I don’t remember much, but I do remember after one of the dances a group of us went to the movie theater. The theater was closed but one of the guys with us was the manager of the theater so he let us in. We got popcorn and watched a movie. The reel broke, so we had to move to another theater. I wonder how he explained the broken reel?

Anyway, prom is a funny ritual. Pay a lot of money for tickets (for what really, they don’t even serve dinner?!), get dressed up, wear your “dyed to match” shoes, wear a flower, mom & dad take photos, get all nervous, try to act grown up. Prom is kinda silly, but if I could live it again I think I would….with DaddyZabba as my date of course.

This weekend we got together with my dear friend Susan and her sweet family. She and I have known each other for at least 10 years (has it really been that long!?). We were in the same teaching program in college, did our student teaching together, and ended up working at the same elementary school with classrooms right next door to each other. It had been 2+ years since we had seen each other. She had never met LittleZabba and I had never met her youngest. It didn’t take long for the kids to warm up to each other. It was great to get together and enjoy an evening of food, fun, and the kids even enjoyed a little hide and seek. The evening ended all too quickly. I hope we can squeeze in a few more visits before they head home.