An Update: Life

Life is about to get really crazy over here. I have a million different things on my mind so here's a little update on all of them.   As you know, Gia started preschool a few weeks ago. She is going two days a week and is loving it. There haven't be any tears--just tons of adorable moments.   From the moment she wakes up on a "school morning" she's so excited. We eat breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth, style that crazy curly hair and then we get going. The entire car ride to school, she talks and talks--and it's all about school. "We're going to schoooooool" she yells from the backseat.    As soon as she's out of the car she flies up the walkway and in the door and then promptly....stops. Stops dead. For two seconds she's unsure of herself and it she really really wants to go in. Miss Mary usually draws her in with promises of fun toys and songs. And she's off again, barely even turning around to say goodbye.  When I come to pick her up, she cannot get enough of me. She usually says "Mommy's home!"  We had to work on the Mommy's here vs Mommy's home thing. Either way, it's adorable and there is nothing better than tight squeezes and tons of kisses from your daughter.
So for the past few weeks I've been enjoying my two free mornings a week. My poor wallet is not happy, but it's been very nice to be able to wander through a store rather than run through and grab stuff while trying to entertain a 2.5 year old.
But all of this is coming to an end later this week, as the spring semester starts, and that means I'm back to work. (Cue the music: back to life, back to reality) No more leisurely strolls through Target. Now it's grading papers and lesson planning.
I teach developmental English at the local community college and I absolutely love it. A very good friend and former colleague is now one of my bosses and that makes an awesome job even awesomer.

Final Exam time -- Fall 2012

So, what is developmental English? Well, before matriculation, all students are required to take a placement test to be sure they are ready for college level classes. If their reading and writing scores are not above a certain number, they fall into the developmental category because they need to continue to develop their skills. (The students are usually native English speakers. There is a whole separate ESL department.)
People are usually surprised when I tell them that, yes, these students have high school diplomas but no, they are not ready for college level classes. In my experience sometimes they blow off their placement tests and thus land in my class, and sometimes they truly don't have the skills.    Just like with being a mom, teaching is definitely one of the things that I'm meant to do in this life. I love the content of what I teach. Reading and writing are my things. I'm a grammar nerd and yes, I find it fun to teach fragments and run-ons and misplaced modifiers. I get giddy up there, carrying on about grammar rules and I'm pretty sure my enthusiasm is entertaining for my students. Even if the subject matter bores them, I know they think I'm crazy to get excited over a fixing a comma splice. I tell stupid "jokes" and they cringe, but then they remember the "rules"-- so, ha! My corniness works.    Wanna hear one of my faves? Run-on sentences usually occur because my students use a comma to separate two complete sentences, which is a no-no. So I always tell them that in a boxing match, the comma always loses. A period is stronger and so is a semi-colon. So if they aren't sure what to do, just remember: the comma is kind of a wimp. When it doubt, separate those sentences with something much stronger. Told you I was corny. And now you believe me.

Pinterest Test Kitchen: Pancake Bites

 

  The other day I went on a pinning rampage and found a pin for pancake bites. It wasn't so much a recipe as it was a sentence. It said: Pancake Bites. Use your favorite pancake mix, pour into muffin tins, add fruit, nuts, sausage, bacon, chocolate chips, etc. Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes.   Even though I love to cook and I'm pretty good at it, I was still a little confused. Should I make the pancake batter according to the directions on the box? How full should I fill the muffin cups? How would I know when they were done?   So this morning I tested them & they were fabulous! They are SO easy to make (so much less of a pain than actual pancakes) and yet, they still taste exactly like pancakes. Gia had fun helping and she ate them up as soon as they were ready.   Here's what I did:  

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Grease muffin tins.

3. Prepare pancake batter according to the box. (I did 1 cup of pancake mix and 3/4 cup of water. This made 7 pancake bites. Well, 6 and one 'reject' --aka a very small one that really shouldn't have been it's own.)

4. Immediately pour the batter into muffin tin. Fill about 3/4 of the way. (They don't rise as much as you'd think they do.)

 

5. Sprinkle on the toppings of your choice. 

Find a cute little helper if you can!

6. Bake for 13 minutes or until the top is just shy of golden brown. I pulled mine out after 12 minutes and they were good but one minue more would have been even better.

Serve warm!

And, keep an eye on your coffee, lest a little person comes along and hijacks it....

Wordless Wednesday

    I fancy myself a novice photographer and because of that, I used to hate Instagram. I'd see all these cool looking pictures on Facebook and I'd be angry that such awesome photos came from a freakin cell phone. I could sit in front of Photoshop for hours and never get a picture to look that great, yet with a few taps of the finger, now everyone's a photographer?    Once I got over my anger and actually joined Instagram (thanks Steph!) I love, love, love it. It makes cell phone pictures look really cool. And it doesn't take anything away from "real" photography. (I imagine this is how photographers felt when we shifted from film to digital. But that's neither here nor there.)   As a new Instagram-er I'm totally in love with every.single.picture I take and wanted a way to display them all on the blog. So, after an hour fiddling with this free photoshop collage template, I finally figured it out.   I'd like to say I'll do this every week and show my 4 favorite Instagram pictures, but every time I promise to do something on a regular basis, I poop out and never quite make the goal. But this time I'm gonna try--really hard.   Ok so it's not exactly wordless Wednesday, but it's close.       ps. If you want the link to this awesome free collage, leave me a comment on the Quinntessential Mommy's Facebook page!