What Students Say

My students live in a unique world. I believe I was in 6th grade when my family got its first computer. I remember playing games on the computer, visiting chat rooms, and of course getting on ICQ with friends. Watching the world of technology and communication evolve right before my eyes makes me laugh sometimes....oh how things have changed.

Today during the last period of school we had our students clean out their lockers. Just about every single student had a cell phone in their locker. Kids walk out of school and immediately get out their phones and iPods. One student got an iPad for Christmas. Oh please...I got my first cell phone when I was a junior in high school...and all it did was make phone calls!

This week I was made aware of exactly how unique my students' thoughts are. (I guess they are unique to me, but this is just normal for them. They don't know any different.)

We were filling out a questionnaire and the last question was "favorite activity." The first student response I saw was "texting." Really?

This week my classes worked on creating their own Native American-inspired textile designs. We were collecting money for a Native American school in Montana, so I thought I could tie the schoolwide project to geometry through textile design. The students actually enjoyed the project and some of their designs are very good! But I asked each class if they had ever heard the word textile. A few hands shot up. "Do any of you know what the word textile means?" I just had to chuckle out loud when I heard the response, "I don't know, but it must have something to do with a cell phone."

Due to snow days my students had to take their final exams after Christmas break. I knew all the video games, tv-watching, sleeping, and TEXTING throughout break would turn their minds into Jell-O, so I spent the first day in January reviewing for the final. One student struggled to come up with an answer to a question and said with a frustrated tone, "If I had my brain from two weeks ago I would know the answer!"

I guess the most redeeming quality about middle school students is that no matter how immature, overly dramatic, or childish they are, (or how tired, frustrated, upset, hopeless I am) they can always say something that will make me laugh.

Let's Play Catch Up

My blog has been bare lately!! You'd think I have a new job keeping me busy or something!

All kidding aside, I have had people tell me that my blog hasn't been updated in a while. All I can say is "I know!!" But I even had an extra long Christmas break to get updated and still didn't make a new post. I have no excuses!

But alas, a snow day has come to the rescue! I have coffee that is warm, slippers that are cozy, and a laptop ready for some furious typing on this snowy Tuesday! This will be just a quick post with mostly pictures of what has been keeping us so "busy" the past couple of months. (Wow, it has been months since my last post!)

Taken from inside our apartment on 2nd Street after about 2 inches of snow this morning, January 11, 2011.

I will hate making up all of our snow days in June, but  I have coffee and Martha Stewart to keep me happy! I am ready to do some blogging!

Fresh Bread. Did you notice the toast in the picture above? That is not just any toast. It is toast made from bread that I made Sunday night with my new breadmaker I got for Christmas from Dan's grandparents. I have never made fresh bread before; I have always been very willing to try new things in the kitchen, but there is one ingredient that has always given me an excuse to skip over certain recipes: yeast. But I thought that now was the perfect time to "man up" and face my nemesis; after all, the breadmaker does all the work for you! I literally threw everything into the pan and pressed Start. 3 1/2 hours later we had warm fresh bread to eat with our bowls of Karen's Potato Soup.

The "Country White Bread" was perfect with our soup. I also had some for breakfast this morning. It was the perfect time to toast the bread and top it with some items I've been waiting to try. Item one: blackberry jam made by Dan's mother using blackberries from her garden. Item two: cranberry bourbon compote I got at a holiday gift exchange. Both were very good!

Christmas cookies. Each year I make decorated sugar cookies to take home to Flip for Christmas. I think I first did this 2-3 years ago and have enjoyed making it a part of my holiday baking checklist ever since. (And yes, we all know who loves these cookies the most. Karen Dean: fan of Christmas cookies.) And since 2010 was our year to spend Christmas with Dan's family, I got to make a huge batch of cookies early and ship some of them to Fulton and save the rest for our trip to Williamstown. For some reason this year's decorating experience was more frustrating than most (due to cheap plastic piping bags); caution: do not wear brand new pajama pants while icing 4 dozen Christmas cookies. Nonetheless, the cookies turned out looking great as usual.

My cookie decorating station.

A samping of the cookies. On the left are my personal favorites: the argyle and houndstooth patterns. :-)

And just to tease Milton and Micah a bit, their very own cookie-versions of the iPad and iPhone.

More holiday baking. Before Thanksgiving I decided that I wanted to do something for my fellow 6th grade teachers to say "thanks for helping out the brand new teacher-even as far as breaking into her car and rescuing her keys that she locked inside on her 2nd day of school." So the Sunday before Thanksgiving I made mini loaves of pumpkin bread for my team teachers. I adapted a recipe I found that uses white cake mix as the base, and they turned out very nicely. (The drizzle of pumpkin spice icing on top helped out some!) And I loved wrapping them up and making them look pretty just as much as I loved baking them. The teachers really loved them; one said that her entire loaf was gone before she got home that day!

Also for Thanksgiving I decided to try a dessert I'd never tried before: cheesecake from scratch. I found a recipe for a Pumpkin Cheesecake on one of my favorite blogs: Smitten Kitchen. I just had to try this recipe to take to Fulton for Thanksgiving. Sadly I didn't get a picture of the final product, but here are a couple of pics of the progress.

I was ready to go: taped the recipe to the cabinets for clear viewing and laid out all the ingredients.

The crust was made of graham cracker crumbs and crushed pecans. Yum!

In the oven it goes! Trust me, you need to try this recipe!!

P.S. If anyone wants to see what is going on at school and keep up with Mrs. Tepe's 6th grade, you can visit my school blog: Bernheim Middle School and click on Tepe on the blogroll on the left.

Recent Baking Endeavors...The Calm Before the Storm.

A couple of weeks ago I volunteered my baking services for a couple of special occasions. I was getting together with some college friends one night, and the next night was a Tepe birthday celebration. There were a couple of recipes I had been wanting to try and these opportunities presented themselves. (Little did I know that this very weekend would be the calm before the storm.)

I receive weekly emails from Pillsbury which include everything from recipes to coupons. A recent email included the recipe for Grand's Little Pies. They looked simple enough so I decided to give them a try. (My friend Alecia referred to these as "Barbie Cups.") They are simply biscuit dough placed inside a muffin tin, filled with a fruit filling, and topped with a pecan crumble.  I chose to fill mine with an apple filling; they were a big hit with my college buddies.

These little pies were quick and simple, and very tasty too. Would be great with ice cream!

My second baking endeavor came after I found a recipe for homemade Funfetti cake. I follow a few baking blogs and Sprinkle Bakes is one of my favorites. She posted a recipe for the cake several weeks ago and I was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to give it a try. My father- and sister-in-law were both having October birthdays and the family was getting together to have a dual celebration. And after finding out that Jess had a personal love of Funfetti, I knew that this cake was destined for the occasion.

The recipe was a simple white cake with lots of colorful sprinkles added right to the batter! These sprinkles are made to add to ice cream and worked perfectly in the cake.

See all those wonderful sprinkles??!!

I made the mistake of skipping the step where I was supposed to line my baking pans with parchment paper. Did I learn my lesson? I think so.

I was left with one cake that was salvageable, and one pile of cake pieces. So instead of a beautiful two layer cake, I had to settle for one and hope it would be enough to feed everyone. But those scraps were happily eaten by Dan and I throughout the next several days.

The final product turned out well, complete with homemade buttercream frosting and more sprinkles on top. It was a perfect birthday cake.

The very day that I spent baking, having a relaxing time in the kitchen, was the day that I received the call from a principal offering me a job teaching 6th grade math! So I now refer to this weekend as the calm before the storm. It was my last weekend before starting a full-time teaching job, which I knew would change my life dramatically. I was terribly excited and nervous at the same time, but knew that I was up for the challenge!



Welcome Fall

This weekend Dan and I had nothing special on our calendar. And what a great feeling it was! Cooler weather had finally arrived and it brought along with it those wonderful feelings we hadn't felt in months: raised windows letting in the crisp, fall air; wrapping up in a blanket watching a movie; actually wanting to drink a warm cup of coffee in the morning; wearing warm socks; drafts in our apartment; and lots of cold-weather eats!

Saturday morning I celebrated the coming of fall with baking my first loaf of pumpkin bread! I saw the canned pumpkin at the grocery and couldn't resist! Last year I took a recipe for banana bread and altered it, substituting pumpkin for the banana. But this year I decided to use a recipe from Alton Brown, a Food Network chef and host of one of my favorite shows, Good Eats. And while his recipe was good, it fell just short of spectacular, so I took it upon myself to take it to the next level by adding mini chocolate chips. The end result was just perfect!

The combination of pumpkin, cinnamon, all spice, and chocolate chips create the perfect seasonal aroma and flavor!

Every year during the first weekend of October, Louisville hosts the annual St. James Art Festival. Fortunately for us, it happened in our neighborhood of Old Louisville. UNfortunately for us, it happened in our neighborhood of Old Louisville. We are lucky that the show that hosts hundreds of artists from all across the country happens literally in our backyard. We got to see so many great pieces of art! However, it did create a minor headache for us and our parking situation, since we rely on the street for both of our cars. So we decided to hibernate inside most of the weekend, securing our highly valuable parking spaces. We spent a couple of hours Sunday walking around the art show. It was a picturesque fall day spent walking around historic Old Louisville and enjoying the art pieces-everything from jewelry and pottery to clothing, paintings, woodworking, metal sculpting, and photography. Unfortunately we couldn't afford the $1800 painting I fell in love with, so we got the next best thing: fresh kettle corn!

There were people everywhere, walking from booth to booth or sitting at a picnic table enjoying one of the many food vendors. We even spotted Lucy's long-lost twin! The fountain (above) is in the middle of St. James Court. The road is lined with historic homes and is only about two blocks from where we live, so we walk in this neighborhood pretty often. There is also a park, Central Park, right across the street from St. James that we walk through often.

 Nothing like fresh kettle corn!

Here are a few shots of our street and apartment, for those of you who haven't visited.

Our building on 2nd St. Our apartment is on the second floor.

To round off the fall-themed weekend just right, I decided to try a new dish for dinner: chicken pot pie. We thought it would really hit the spot on a cool evening. I used another Food Network chef recipe, one I found online by Emeril Lagasse. And despite the fact that it called for made-from-scratch pie crust for the top, I decided to be brave, face my fear of pastry dough, and give it a try. Dan and I were both pleased with the result. I'm also pleased that this meal will give us leftovers and keep me from having to cook one night this week. Ha ha!

I think I've earned my right to buy frozen pie crusts from now on. :-)

Another weekend in the record books! Welcome Fall!

Crafting Fix

If I don't get my hands dirty with crafting materials for a period of time, I go into withdrawal. Card making used to be my craft of choice; no store-bought cards for me. However since moving to Louisville, returning to school, and getting married, I've had less time (and resources) to keep up my hobby. But on occasion I get an urge to make a quick trip to Hobby Lobby and get my creative fix.  Here are my latest completions.

This is an 8x8 shadowbox with vinyl applied to the front; for Morg's 15th birthday.

For Micah; white 8x8 shadowbox with black vinyl and scrapbook paper.

This piece started as a plain piece of MDF. I painted it cream, applied the vinyl lettering, and distressed with brown.

Catch-Up

It's been a good while since my last post. And to be honest, I don't know where the time has gone or what we've been up to, but it feels like September has come and gone in an instant! But that is totally fine with me; I'm ready to welcome Fall with open arms! I know that in a few months Dan and I will be bundled up, trying to keep our drafty apartment warm, but for now I am really looking foward to cooler weather!

September has definitely given us things to keep us occupied. We've traveled, had out of town guests, been busy with working and school, and enjoyed the start of football season! The sisters and I went home for Labor Day weekend; it was fun as usual filled with nights on the patio, roasting Smores on the fire pit, pool time, Decor Direct, a family gathering at the Oliver's house, and a lot of good food! While I was away Dan had some friends in town and I think they had fun as well. The following weekend Dan spent yet another weekend traveling for work, this time to Chicago, and Micah came and visited from Lexington. Last weekend was somewhat normal for us. We actually went out to eat, just the two of us, on Friday night, and spent lots of time relaxing and watching football. This weekend has been eventful as well; I had class Saturday morning (yuck!), lunch with my d-group girls, and we spent the afternoon watching football with Micah. Unfortunately UK didn't do as well as we'd hoped, but our dinner at Five Guys and hour-long visit to Barnes & Noble kept our minds off of the game.

I love waking up on a cool morning, espcially after all of the hot ones we've been having! This morning I got to do just that and it's getting me in the mood for sweatshirt season and fall baking! I'm looking foward to my first pumpkin bread; maybe this year I'll get brave and use some fresh pumpkin. Sharon, do you have any of those growing in the garden? I also love fall because of all the beautiful changes happening outside. Our neighborhood is great for taking a walk on a fall day just to admire the changing leaves. It reminds me that even Creation has a way of praising it's Creator!

We are looking foward to October and the exciting things that will come with it. Hopefully between subbing, grad school, and everything else I will find time to be more regular with the blog..or maybe I should assign some posts to Dan....

Fair Filled Fun

Friday morning I woke up and said to myself, "We don't really have much going on this weekend." Little did I know how quickly that was about to change. We ended up having a busy weekend with many hours logged at the ole Kentucky State Fair. Dan had to help man the UL HealthCare Mammography Van at the fair, while I spent time indulging in fair food and carnival rides with my cousins, the Buckinghams. Sunday night we were given tickets to see Rascal Flatts in concert at the fairgrounds, courtesy of Dan's boss. It was a fun weekend which is better described in all the following pictures I took to document all the fun activities!

Isabella won 3rd place in the state 4-H Speech competition and was invited to perform her speech at the KSF. I went to watch her give her speech, which was all about chickens!

You can't visit the fair without having some good eats! Love me some funnel cake!

We walked around and saw lots of animals! Uncle Barry got a kick out of the baby chicks, while I was amused by the mini horse (any Rob & Big fans out there?).

Can't go to the fair without riding a ferris wheel!

Isabella and I rode the ferris wheel and had a great view from the top. We also rode a much much faster ride, which you can ask about next time you see me. (Let's just say I almost got off half-way through, but she convinced me otherwise.) Just like any state fair, there are vendors everywhere! As much as I wanted to try a deep-fried oreo or twinkie, I resisted.

I think Isabella and Gabriella had lots of fun exploring all the fair had to offer. Unfortunately none of us explored the famous Donut Burger. This is a hamburger placed between two Krispy Kreme donuts instead of buns. Yum!

Sunday night we were on our way to see Rascal Flatts. We parked and rode the shuttle (aka a tractor pulling a trailor) around to the front entrance.

We walked around for a bit before the concert. Here is a picture of some of the entries in the baked goods category. Maybe next year one of my breads can make a KSF appearance! I was amazed at all of the entry categories: baked goods, antiques, textiles, floral arrangements, art and photography, woodworking, and even homemade brew! There is also an area where different counties in KY are represented. Unfortunately, Fulton Co was not represented. Cash clan, maybe we should work on that! Grant Co, however, was!

I had seen Rascal Flatts in concert before; they were great then and were great now too!