The Eye of the Storm

No this is not the calm before the storm.  Nor the peace after the storm.  We're enjoying a day or two of general solace after a hectic and confusing week and before we enter into more and more insanity.  

Let's begin with a recap of this past week, shall we?  At approximately 3:30 am on Wednesday morning, Dan decided that after hours of sleepless agony, we needed to go to the Emergency Room.  He was dealing with extreme pain in his abdomen, and we feared it may have been appendicitis.  After waiting at the ER for hours, we learned that it was not appendicitis, but we still have no clue what it was.  He now has a primary care doctor though (something I've been begging him to get since we started dating!), and we're working to determine what the source of the pain is / was.  That, on top of some stressful situations at my afternoon school (what else is new?), it's been a long week.  

This coming week I have teacher observations at my morning school, and preparation for parent-teacher conferences in the following week.  No rest for the weary.  

Dan's been working on the weekends lately, leaving me to my own devices.  Since we're trying very hard to save money, and it's gotten cold and rainy, I have limited options.  Basically, I have one option: baking.  This weekend's creation was a fancy gourmet treat.    

  

That, my friends, is a butternut squash, apple, and brie galette.  It is French.  Therefore fancy-shmancy.  Right?  Haha.  I saw the recipe when searching for ways to use butternut squash and decided I was up for the challenge.  It turned out pretty well too! 

I probably should've made something a bit more along the lines of comfort food, with everything coming up, but hey, it's got cheese in it!  And I love me some cheese.  Yum.  

Kitchen Aid

We didn't have classes on Friday and we have off on Monday as well.  I love having student-free days to get caught up on grading and work in the classroom.  You'd think I wouldn't have as much to do this year, considering I only teach four classes.  But somehow I managed to spend the entire day on Friday entering grades and fighting with the online grade system.  I'd hoped to get all of my report cards completed, but as a result of some technical difficulties, I wasn't able to do that.  I got home around 6:00 on Friday night exhausted and frustrated.  So, to cheer myself up, I decided to spend a good portion of the rest of the weekend using my new favorite toy: 

                                         

Isn't it so pretty?  As a wedding gift we received this beast.  It's awesome.  I've made quite a few batches of cookies with it so far, and am anxious to see what else I can do with it.  I started out by making some Snickerdoodles on Saturday.  

                                

                                        

They're half gone already.  Typically I'd blame Dan...but I've had more than my fair share of this batch.  They're just such a warm, autumnal, cookie.  

Today I tried my hand at a cheesecake.  Never before in my life have I made a cheesecake...and it shows.  I don't think I cooked it thoroughly enough so it's still quite goopy in the middle.  I was also rushed because I'd forgotten some ingredients, then procrastinated going to the grocery store.  By the time the thing came out of the oven, I was scurrying to get to a friend's house to watch the Timbers playoff game.  I didn't have the time to let it cool properly I just shoved the steaming creation into fridge and ran out the door.

  

It doesn't taste terrible, it just looks pretty pathetic. 

                            

It did however get the still-flea-ridden Futty's approval.  She started licking some off my hand and then tried to steal it off my plate.  

We hope to spend the day outside tomorrow because Dan has the day off as well and it's promising to by 60* and sunny.  Dan's got a few parks and hiking trails he wants to check out and I want to go to a spot where he said we could most likely spot some bald eagles.  Birds scare the bejesus out of me, but for some reason I really want to see a bald eagle!   

Drama

Flea Update: I think we've gotten Futty's flea problem under control-ish.  I cleaned all of her favorite spots to rid them of potential flea eggs and larvae and we got her some monthly medicine.  So far so good.  

In other news.  I received two surprises on Friday:

1) I was offered a full time teaching job at my favorite school

2) My dear sister Mandy went into labor (finally!) 

Surprise Número Uno: The Job

I've been helping out in the 2nd grade with some reading groups every morning.  I've enjoyed getting to know the kids a bit and getting to know their teacher as well.  It turns out that the teacher is planning to take a school wide position (School Improvement Specialist or something to that effect) and her job would be available within the next month.  I'd heard rumors about this, but didn't give it much thought, until Friday morning when the principal approached me in the hallway.  He walked up to me and said (more or less) that he couldn't bear the thought of losing me in the Spanish position, but that a full time 2nd grade position would be available and he would be remiss if he didn't offer it to me.  

Needless to say, I was pretty flattered and shocked.  After I found my "footing" again, I started to mull it over.  I've never seen myself as an "elementary" teacher, and am still not sure I have what it takes to be in a classroom of 20 some odd tiny people who are still trying to get the hang of school, though I'd definitely be up for the challenge.  But there was one thing holding me back from saying yes to the job. At the beginning of the school year, the Spanish students asked me if I'd leave them like "all the rest" of their Spanish teachers (according to the other middle school staff, they'd been through about 5 teachers by November last year...most of them scared out of the building by poor student behavior).  I had told them that unless I had some injury that precluded me from teaching, that I planned to be there until the end of the school year.  I can't go back on that promise to them.  It's not fair to them.  Plus, they're all doing REALLY well!  So, I had to tell the principal that I couldn't take the job.  

Surprise Número Dos: 

This one wasn't much of a surprise.  We've been ready for this to happen.  Mandy was starting to get pretty darn uncomfortable with the last few months of the pregnancy.  I got a text on Friday night that they were headed to the hospital.  I didn't realize what a harrowing night they were experiencing until the next morning.  Mandy was admitted to the hospital with labor pains, but was not experiencing much progress.  They discovered that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck.  Twice.  They rushed her into an emergency C-section (all of which I learned after the fact, while sitting on my sofa drinking coffee).  They operated and got the baby out.  Luke says it was a total of 9 minutes between the time they rushed her into the operating room and when they delivered the little man.  

Luckily both Mandy and baby are doing just fine now.  I'm still having a hard time dealing with not being able to be there and hold the little dude right away.  I did get a chance to video chat with both of them and my mom's been sending me tons of adorable pictures.   The photos below are courtesy of a super proud grandma:  

Meet Ezra David.  He's the handsomest little dude in the midwest, that's for sure.

A proud big sister.