Birds and Macaroni

Birds seem to be a recurring theme in my life, and I think that's because I don't like them. Most recently, my dad noticed that a goldfinch kept flying in and out of an empty pitcher-shaped planter in the back yard. Upon discovering that a nest had been built inside, he convinced me, against my better judgement, to look. I expressed my concerns about the bird being inside, and he told me, and I quote, "It's not in there-- I just looked in there and I didn't see it."

So I, too, looked in the planter. I saw the nest. I did not see the bird...

I heard it first: the deafening WOOSH! WOOSH! WOOSH!!! of its wings, and the ca-CAW! ca-CAW! ca-CAW!!! as it seemed to be saying, "I'll peck your eyes out, bitch! That'll teach YOU to look in my house!!"

So what if my dad claims that it made no noises whatsoever as it flew out, in the direction of the sky, not my eyes? I know what I heard, damn it!

*****

My mom has always made the most delish baked macaroni and cheese, and though I have watched/helped her many times, and she has talked me through it on the phone, and written it down for me, well, it never comes out quite right for me. I have thus began the Great Search for the Second Most Delicious Macaroni and Cheese.

So far I have tried:

• this recipe by Giada. Outcome: Meh. Fontina cheese was way expensive, so I ended up subbing sharp cheddar, and maybe that's why it was only Okay. Alex thought it tasted more like an alfredo than a mac and cheese. Two days later, she made the recipe on her show, and he drooled over how delicious it looked, not realizing it was the same one I had already made. Me: That's the one I just made. Him: Yeah, but hers looks GOOD.
• this recipe by Paula Deen. Outcome: Also meh. It tasted okay, but the eggs gave it a funny texture. It wasn't firm enough to be quichy, but it wasn't creamy enough to be a mac and cheese, either.

Do you have an amazing m&c recipe? A secret ingredient? A special technique? Please share!

*****

Kid-Bit

I took my class to the circus last week. Aside from being more fascinated by things like, "why are there so many black and brown people here?" than the actual circus, and aside from a couple of them not even having an attention span long enough to watch 20 things going on at once and changing themes every 4 minutes, it went pretty well.

Quote of the day:

ChowDownKid: Oooohhh! A HORSE!!!

Me: ChowDownKid, that's an elephant.

CDK: ... a real one?

Shiny

It is so beautiful outside, and I know that's an obvious statement to make, but seriously I can't ignore it. I used one of my Leave Early passes today to get the hell home, and you'd think I'd be spending this time outside instead of blogging, but... actually. I can be outside blogging. Be right back.

Okay, so maybe this is not instant messaging, and there was no lag between the time you read that last paragraph and this one, but whatever. The point is, I filled a water bottle and brought my laptop outside, and I am now sitting on my patio enjoying the sun.

*****

On Sunday, Alex and I worked on cleaning out and organizing the monstrosity that was our garage. We didn't get it all finished, but we made a lot of progress. We got rid of a lot, and once we get some shelves, the actual organizing part should go pretty smoothly. Also, there is a sort-of attic over our garage in which we found a previous owner's Playboy videos. Score!

*****

What might one do when a shot glass mysteriously falls into the kitchen sink drain and then gets chopped up by the garbage disposal? I can tell you what I did, which was to reach in gently with my yellow rubber gloved hand and pull out the big pieces. I am hoping the baby shards will just work their way down into the pipes...

*****

Kid-Bit


ChowDownKid: Is that bottle glass or plastic?
TA: Plastic.
CDKid (who is 7): Oh. I thought it was glass. It looks like a forty.

I'm a Rambling Girl

I'm counting down to summer, not only because I'll be rid of my class, but also because Alex has agreed to bankroll me for the two months I'm not getting paid. So I will officially have two glorious months OFF. No part-time gigs with low pay and weird hours or nice pay but more kids and Icannotwait. Alex is lobbying for a Laundry Clause, wherein I do his laundry due to the fact that he is supporting me, but I think that since I do have some summer savings, and he will only be supplementing about 1/3 of my income, that perhaps I will only do 1/3 of his laundry. In fact, I think I will do the third that we both use, like towels and sheets, which I do now anyway. I swear, if I didn't wash them, we'd still be using the same dirty towels from the day we moved into this joint 11 months ago.

And speaking of moving in, something we never did when we planted ourselves here was Put Things Away in an Organized Manner. The garage has been so packed with stuff that it might as well be a storage locker. Imagine that commercial where the car pulls in to the perfectly carved out space in an overcrowded garage, except ours is worse because no car would fit.

So on Sunday, we got a-cleanin, and I am impressed with our progress. I of course went through about an hour when all I did was snap at Alex because cleaning puts me in the worst mood ever, and then he snaps back at me about "why are you yelling? this was YOUR idea!" and then I feel guilty and shuddup until I can see actual progress and become remotivated. Really, the high point of the day was crawling around in the attic space above the garage and discovering a couple of early 90s Playboy videos, but I also enjoyed actually being able to see the floor when we were done.

Sidenote: Does your boyfriend have scads of rediculous things that he refuses to throw away because he thinks his stuff is awesome? I'm talking really not-awesome stuff, like Bart Simpson dolls and naked girl rubix cubes and picture frame clocks that feature a photo of Ex Girlfriend and 8,297 novelty lighters... Just wondering.

I thought I'd be rambling about a lot more stuff, but it seems that I must be off to work now. It should be a decent day because I will be spending it out of my classroom, writing IEPs for next year. I wish I could get some kind of internet service aside from that supplied by my district, because I would SO bring my own laptop and spend the day wasting time. I guess that's why I can't.

If I suddenly disappear...

... ask around at work.

Silver Lining?

There is a tiny bit of good news, and that is the fact that one of my students, a newer one who should have never been placed in my class because it only made him (and the rest of my class) worse being around other crazies, has moved. Also, and I know this is mean because I should love all my students, but... well he got on my nerves something awful. His voice, the way he whined everything he said, caused problems and then played the victim, copied every other bad behavior he saw, and made me look like an incompetant ass by behaving like an angel for his reading teacher... *Shudder* But yeah, he's gone, and BaneOfMyExistanceKid* has been out for quite awhile at a special program for crazy kids, and he should be gone for at least another 4-6 weeks, AND when he comes back, there is a good chance he will be medicated.

So for now, I have the original 6 I started off with back in September when I liked my class. There is still one (BiPolarKid, see * below) who I consider "in crisis," because he has become so unpredictable since his parents got divorced and his dad moved out. However, he is much more manageable without the other two to goad on.

I am hoping this is a silver lining that will help me get through the motions between now and June.

Also, is it too... I don't know... princess-y of me to be trying to convince Alex, who is not my husband, to supplement my summer savings so I don't have to work again until September?

* I made a mistake in that linked post. BoMEKid is not actually TBD2, as he did not start the year in my class. We will from now on call TBD2 BiPolarKid. This is not an actual diagnosis, just an observation.