I just made the best black beans I've had since Cafe Rio!

Seriously, I just did.  Like I haven't even eaten them yet, because I just finished them.  But Olivia has and I tasted some of hers and I'm excited for my dinner now!  But I don't follow recipes.  And too often my awesome food adventures get forgotten because I don't remember what I did.  So before I forget even one little thing, I typing this up, and I might as well share!! 

If I took a picture of what mine looked like, you would never believe how good they taste. 

Black Refried Beans (loosely based on this recipe)

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 onion, diced
1 vegetable broth bullion cube (or 1/2 of a Knorr brand cube, which is what I used)
about 1 cup water, divided
1/8 tsp garlic powder (I think.  Who knows for sure. . . )
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook onion with a about 1/4 c of water in a small saucepan.  While the onion cooks, add the bullion cube.  Stir occasionally, adding more of the water as necessary.  Add the black beans and mash them with a potato masher.  Add the remaining water, or as much as of the remaining water as you want (kinda depends on how thick you want your beans) Add garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. 

Easy peasy lemon squeesy!

Wanna watch the Bachelorette with me? Week 1 (and a day late!)

I know this is late.  I just couldn't stay up until 10 to watch it.  But I hate watching it alone, all of my witty sarcasm and biting remarks going to waste.  So I pretended I was watching it with you!  And wrote down all obvious and mean things I would say about the show I love to hate.  Its like live tweeting only not live and I don't have a character limit.  Okay, here we go. . . 

Okay, ten seconds in I'm already freaking!  Hasn't anyone told Emily that releasing balloons into the air is dangerous!  They are going to pop in a forest and get eaten by a duck.  Its like she missed Earth Day in 2nd grade.

And how did I miss that she's 26!?!?!  I feel . . . old.

Emily: I can't go through this and fall in love and have it not work again.
Me: Girl!  Have you even seen this show before?!?!  Honey you have a better chance at finding love on the Biggest Loser.  Better bust out that ice cream.

How often do you think the tragic accident is going to be mentioned?  So far: 2 and I'm only 7 minutes in. . .

And Kalon has already claimed the "First day of the rest of my life" phrase.

David: I've written a lot of songs specifically about trying to find true love.
Me: Wow, that is so awesome.  No singer/songwriter has ever done that before.
David: Emily, Emily, Emily oh oh Emily. . .
Me: Great lyrics.  How do you come up with this stuff??

Oh great.  Jef.  Choosy Bachlorettes chose Jef.  All you have to do is say "Salt Lake City" and you know crazy is about to happen. 

AND JEF IS THE WINNER OF MY "FAIRY TALE" CONTEST.  I wondered if we would hear it much with 25 dudes instead of 25 girlies, but I knew someone would bust it out. 

*mention of Emily's ex-finance and the tragic accident

Emily: This could be the night that I meet my husband.
Me: Its like I already wrote this script for this show.

*mention of Emily's tragic story

And now the moment you've been waiting for you have to suffer through, Emily meeting the bachelors!!  They're all going to try and stand out with a stupid one liner.  Let's see what we got here: 

Jackson: Life is not about the number of breaths we take, but the moments that take our breath away.
Me: Oooookay, so how many times did you watch Hitch for tips on dating before coming on the show?

Aaron: I'm a high school biology teacher, but I'm here to have chemistry with you!
Emily: What do I say to that? "Awesome"

Did you see Emily do the don't-ever-touch-me-again shudder-shrug after Alessandro hugged her?  She did not look smitten.  Poor guy.

I'm starting to wonder if Jef is a BYU student just trying to complete an assignment for an acting class.  #doesntseemserious (hash tagging in blog posts is like the cool new thing to do)

Stevie comes dancing in.  He tells her he's a dancer/DJ/entertainer.  Sounds like a guy whose ready to settle down and be a dad.

Now we see Tony waltzing in with a glass slipper.  I am going to retract Jef as the winner of my fairy tale contest.  Wow.  Just seriously, wow.  And since you can't hear my voice, let me just tell you, not in a good way.

Oh my gosh, he's trying the shoe on her!  I hope it doesn't fit, I hope it doesn't fit. . . Dang it.

Some random bachelor: Feelings may get hurt down the road.
Me: What?  No!  No one ever gets hurt on this show.  You must be confused with Sesame Street.

The egg thing.  I can't decide if that's cute or creepy.  Time will tell.

Alejandro, I feel like there is going to be a language barrier here if you can't stick to English.

And now a cocktail party:

Emily: I don't know what I did to deserve all these wonderful guys!
Me: Oh honey, its nothing you did.

*Emily's fiance died in a plane crash.  This just in.

 Emily: I'm not the most athletic girl in the world.
Jef: That's way surprising.  It looks like you're really athletic.
Translation: You have a hot body.

Aparently single parenthood is the only thing you have to have in common to make a relationship work.  According to Doug.

Kalon: Of course I want the first impression rose.  My mom taught me first impression is everything, and fortunately I showed up in a helicopter.
Me: Well my first impression of you is that you borrowed your daddy's helicopter and that Luxury Brand Consultant probably isn't a real thing.
Oh wait, raised by a single mom.  My bad.  Still, not sure I'm a Kalon fan just yet.

Is there a rule that the bachelorette has to go with the person who asks if they can interrupt?  Because I would put the kabosh on that real quick if there wasn't.  Rude.

Unless I missed it, I think Arie was the first to use the "connection" word!!  Ding ding ding!

*And Arie slips in the fact that Emily's finance died.

Props to Emily for explaining her feelings about racing with out mentioning any tragedies.

Chris says he deserves the first impression rose???   What does that even mean? 

Insert Rose Ceremony Here

In the future I might care about the RCs a little more, but I don't have strong feelings yet so its just one more hoop to jump through.

Whoa!  Where did this Brent guy come from!?!? SIX KIDS. Musta missed it somehow.  But seriously dude, don't take it so personally.  This is not the only way to find love!  You are still a valid person!  I feel like everyone needs to be told this after not getting a rose.  Good grief.

My Big Announcement!!!

Why is it that the only announcement a married woman can make is that she's pregnant?  Don't tell me that wasn't the first thing that popped into your head. . . In fact when annoucing this to my class I said, "I have something I need to tell you guys, I wanted you to hear it from me first, unfortunately. . ." and before I could finish a student shouted "You're--" and then stopped.  But we all knew what word was hanging in the air.  Pregnant.  Yes, I always announce happy things starting with the word "unfortunately".  No, I'm not pregnant.

I quit my job!!!!!

Now, this is sad for my students ("unfortunately") and a little sad for me, but mostly happy for me and very happy for Olivia.  It was a hard decision to make, but I know its for the best.  Now comes the "unfortunately" for me. . .

Unfortunately, I will not be a stay at home mom just yet.  I'm going to be a nanny which will allow me to bring in a little money while still spending my days with Olivia.  And unfortunately I will not have the time to start my dream job as an interior designer yet either.  But one year is such a short time and soon I'll be in my own house, with my own kids, decorating rooms for all of you!!

For such a happy post, I sure did use the word "unfortunately" a lot.  But once I got started, I just kinda went with it. 



Not quite this, but close!



Source: ifiwasadj.tumblr.com via amber on Pinterest

Everybody has a happy place. . .

. . .and this is Olivia's

A few weeks ago my mother-in-law put this cushion under this table.  Something we could pull out if we needed another seat option.

And Olivia loved it! 

Sometimes she'll just sit on it and laugh!  I wish I knew what was so funny about it!

Wind People

On Olivia's birthday my friend Elizabeth wrote this post.  (No, it being Olivia's birthday has nothing to do with any of this, but how could I not say it?) And I love what she wrote about wind people.  I realized lately that my parents are great wind people.  It was something I could only recognize once I was associated with someone who was not.  But I want this to be a happy post, so no talk about that!

In middle school, I woke up by myself and got dressed and made it to the bus stop on time.

I chose to study extra Spanish instead of higher level math in high school.

I majored in Home Ec because its something I have loved since I was a child.  I also got my teaching degree.

One summer home from college, after a disastrous few months as a nanny, my mom helped me pack up all of my things, and buy a plane ticket back to Utah so I could spend the remainder of my break there, with my friends.

Early in my career, I researched and test drove and bought my own car.

These are a very few examples of how my parents have truly let me be my own person.  As long as I wasn't committing any crimes, or doing anything immoral, they have always been the wind in my sails.  They listen (and I think that's the key word here) and give advice when asked.  They guide me, they never force me.  And they are always very positive of my choices, even if it wouldn't be their first choice.

I never realized that was uncommon.  But now that I do, I really hope I can be that for Olivia and for all my kids.  As a parent I see how very difficult it can be to give independence to your child.  I see that it can be hard not to try and live through them.  Hard not to try and make them good at things you failed at.  Hard not to try and make them good at things you're good at.  Hard to just let them be them. 

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm lucky!

Remember I have a baby?

I don't want to blog too many baby pictures.  I realize that might only be fun for me.  But sometimes I just have to!  The other day Olivia grabed a sweater out of my laundry basket and tried to put it on and the crawled around the house with it.  It was starting to fall off by the time I took this pic.  She just cracks me up all the time.  I think she'll have a great sense of humor.

If you, like me, love posts about babies, you can click here to read all of my Olivia posts.

Robot Babies

One of the main reasons students take my Adult Roles class is the second quarter term project.  I have 20 robot babies that my students sign up to take home for a weekend.  For two days and three hours my teenagers feed, burp, diaper and wake up in the middle of the night to take care of these cute little simulations. 

In order to prepare my students I teach a unit on newborn care and parenting, including shaken baby syndrome.  Then I show a short video about proper care for the Real Care Baby.  And then I make sure parents are aware by sending home a permission slip.  One of my students lost his.  This is what he brought.  Best.  Note.  EVER.

 And here they are!  The proud parents!!

Please excuse the awful mess of my classroom in the background.  Its on my to-do list!!!

They are so excited.  Come Monday morning they will not be looking so happy.