Oh the things kids say...

So I just finished my first month of student teaching and while some days are frustrating, this experience has shown me I am on the right path in this career decision. I've gained so much already from this chance to be in the classroom and thank goodness it's with a real life teacher who has had 20+ years in the classroom. I don't know what I would do without such a great example.

I'm also thankful that I had the opportunity to sub at the same school last year, giving me the advantage of already knowing most of the students in my classroom. At this point I have only taken over for half the day but soon the reigns will be passed over to me for 4 WEEKS! I'm sweating just thinking about it. I will say I do enjoy the stories I get out of my precious little dears. Sometimes they sure know how to make you laugh, often times without even meaning to. My mentor teacher and I almost laughed till we cried the other day when I shared with her what one of our darlings said to me:

I have a couple of real math lovers in the room and two of my girls decided to flip through the book one day to see what they had to look forward to....Now, at this point I pretty much just do what my mentor does so I haven't really made a lesson plan on my own or looked further into the book to see what is coming up. (I am only going to be there until Thanksgiving break so I don't really need to look at what they will be studying by the end of the year). Anyway, one of the girls walked up to my desk and asked, "Are we going to study Algebra this year?"....now I didn't really know myself but seeing that we are just now reviewing and studying 2 digit multiplication and long division I highly doubted it...so I told her I don't think we will get to that but maybe by the end of the year you will. That seemed to satisfy her and she went back to her desk. Low and behold the very next day I am watching my mentor teach the lesson of the day and there was a word problem, not really an algebra one but it gave you all this data and you had to pick which mathmatical problem would help you find your answer, it had a letter representing the total since we really didn't want you to solve for anything. Well my mentor explained that this was like algebra...I knew it was coming...that girls head shot up so fast and she stared me down with a funny look on her face. After the lesson was over she walked over to me and said, "You lied to me," which I tried to explain that I was not aware that we would be discussing that and we wouldn't really be studying it, just that one problem. She then said, "I'll be watching you," she even did the finger motion from her eyes to mine with her hand!!! Oh how hard it was for me not to laugh then and there.....the things these kids say!

*FYI I am talking about a 5th grader here!

Anyway, hopefully you got a laugh out of my long winded story, I thought it was a good one to share. Now, on to the recipe for today. I have discovered pinterest and it has become a real issue. Not because I don't like it....believe me I'm in LOVE...I'm probably on the computer more now than I would like to admit, but Oh My Goodness there is recipes galore! I saw one of something that I've had in the past but never made it myself. I kinda forgot about this recipe and I really enjoyed it and have been trying to track it down. I was thrilled to find it on this nifty site. Ta Ta and Enjoy!

http://soupbelly.com/2009/08/03/cowboy-caviar/

And so it begins...

Hello World!

So this is my first blog post on my first blog ever and I'm just feeling my way around in the darkness.  I've always enjoyed writing and creating new things and sharing random facts with whoever will listen.  I'm hopeful this blog will stumble into something interesting for you.  If not I apologize in advance. So far I've titled it Sunday Afternoons, not necessarly meaning I'll only post at that time, but more accurately I'm hoping to portray that laid back, hanging on the couch in your favorite sweats kind of feeling.  At least that's what we do around my house on Sunday afternoon.

To tell a little about myself.  I'm a 26 year old small town girl, still living in said small town, married to small town high school sweetheart.  I'm slowly becoming that crazy coupon lady...I've even started a coupon binder and enjoy sorting my free money as I like to call it haha...I'll probably end up posting frequently about that since this is growing into a thrilling obsession for me! I have aspirations of becoming a writer, teacher, photographer, singer (because we all secretly want to go on American Idol and become the next Carrie Underwood.  Don't shake your head no, lying especially to yourself is never a good thing.) chef, book editor......well the list goes on and on.  So far I'm on track to becoming an elementary school teacher just like my mommy and I'm looking forward to the adventure.  God blessed me with the best parents.  I was definitely a Daddy's girl growing up, spending much of my childhood around football and baseball players being a coach's daughter.  Although my father is no longer with us, I feel blessed to have what time we did together, I know others aren't so lucky.

Lately, I have been trying to improve my ways around the kitchen.  It started out trying to please the hubby and expand the menu at our house and has grown in to a passion.  I plan to share a recipe with each post. I'll let you know if it was a success or failure, failures hopefully being few and far between.

So let's get to it!

Recipe numero uno is my go to recipe these days, Crispy Santa Fe Chicken, or as I call it just Crispy Chicken.  We (sorry more accurately I) probably make this once a week.  This was one of the first recipes I tried off of kraftfoods.com, a website that I absolutely love, and it meets the only two criteria I have for making it into my recipe book >>> It has to be delicious and EASY to make! I hope you give it a try, oh and I only add the salsa when my side dishes are more of a mexican flavor like spanish rice and beans.

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/crispy-santa-fe-chicken-113733.aspx


I'll close with a favorite bible verse of mine that comforts me during my daily walk with God.  Blessings to all :)

"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11