Tootin' Her Horn

Well, Nas won't toot her own horn, so I am going to toot it for her. :) She had

I have the day off today as I have already worked over my hours for the week (& the powers that be are not authorizing OT - just comp time. If I opt for the comp time - I won't be able to take it off - frustrating).

My plan for the day is to: take Remy on a much needed walk (he's been neglected since school began), deliver Ethiopian supplies to Heather, redo my resume and post it on LinkedIn, scrub the floors, fold a pile of laundry, clean the bathrooms, bake something tasty for dessert, & look for my camera (which has been missing since Saturday).

Union Update: Our PSE Union met with the school board yesterday. About 75 of us members marched/picketed the meeting. The Union came out after 25 minutes and said no deal. Today, PSE will file a motion to obtain a mediator to try & negotiate a new contract. If no deal is reached by the 28th of October, then our Union will take a strike vote.

Shopping for Ethiopia

That saying is so true: it's better to give than to receive. Matty & I just went shopping for the kids at Layla House. We purchased:

*5 tubes of Neosporin
*10 board books for toddlers (mini board books) abcs, 123s, first words, nursery rhymes
*5 SpongeBob toothbrush/toothpaste kits
*200 Pooh & Dora stickers

This is what I could afford until payday. Heather is leaving on our payday - so it had to be a light load for us. But...more good Ethiopia news. Matty's Social Studies teacher is going to Ethiopia to volunteer in an orphanage for a week in October. She has rallied the kids to bring in items for her to take to the orphanage. We will also stockpile items for her trip & I will post the list of needed items if you feel you would like to donate as well.

UPDATE: Neosporin, band-aids, stickers, liquid Tylenol, hand sanitizer, & travel toothpaste. I will add more if I hear of anything else there is room for. Thanks!

Donations needed!

I know someone who is travelling with her family to Ethiopia in just a few short days to visit the child she and her husband are adopting. They still don't have a court date and she is several months pregnant. They think they may not get their court date until she is almost 8 or 9 months along; so that is why she is leaving later this week. She plans to spend lots of time with their child and also to visit the other children at Layla House. I have offered to purchase some donations for the kids living at Layla House. Items such as Neosporin, band-aids, candy, etc.

If you would like to donate an item or two to send along to the kids who are waiting for families...let me know. I hope to hear either tonight or tomorrow on what donations are needed.

Thanks for your support!
P.S. = you can read all about her adventure at: http://lifewiththefriesens.blogspot.com/

Clammy Goodness

Omid waited until almost 9 p.m. tonight to cook the clams. My meeting went until 8:45 p.m. They were definitely worth the wait. Omid soaked the clams in water with salt & cornmeal to expel the sand. He changed the water 3 times and the first two times there was plenty of sand. The third time - no sand. He knew the clams were ready to be steamed. There was only ONE clam that didn't open - the other 73 were okay to eat.

Steaming the clams with lots of delicious spices.

Ready to eat

Oh, so good!

The empty shells.

Strike...?

I will be leaving shortly for a union meeting. It appears we may be taking a strike vote. I have mixed feelings on the issue so am going to get as much info as I can. Scary & exciting at the same time.

UPDATE: We aren't striking tomorrow morning, which is good for now. We did take a strike authorization vote that if the Union and the school board don't reach an agreement on Thursday; a mediator will be brought in. If no headway is made, then on October 28th, we meet again and could vote to strike. Yikes. The sad, sad thing is the kids are the losers in this whole game. Even now with my cut hours, I will not be seeing/serving kids who NEED to be seen. It is so sad. I have a set amount of hours I am only allowed to work and after that - sorry! My heart is wanting to stay and do what needs to be done - but I can't do that. The district needs to know that I can't do a majority of my job in 4.8 hours. It can't be done. I couldn't do my job in 7 hours last year. I either got overtime or comp time for the time above and beyond. So now, I have a huge pile of "to do" at work which needs to be done before kids can be seen. If this work is not done soon, then the start date when kids will be seen will be even further down the road. But...this is nothing new. Look at everything the certificated teachers do ABOVE & BEYOND what they are REQUIRED to do. It's frustrating cycle - while those with administrator certificates get paid thousands and thousands. I could go on and on - but I won't.

Bottom line: Please don't shop at any store in Camas that does not have a PSE sign in their window. You will see these signs in the coming weeks. We need to support all the classified staff who do so much for the kids (& who are not getting the respect from the school board/district big whigs).

Thanks so much!

Clamming

Omid, the kids and I went clamming at Willapa Bay today. Here I am testing the clamming beds. We did really good and got 74 steamer clams in 30 minutes. Woo hoo! Let me tell you, steamer clamming sure beats razor clamming (we actually got clams this time).

Me wearing Omid's hip waders (they kept me dry & warm).


Omid, Matty & I

clams

on the boat

Omid setting the bait for the crab pots.

crab (we threw him back - too small)

Remy

Remy again

Look at all the oyster shells

B, Grammy & Cayden came to visit us

Cayden

We tried to leave Ocean Park and it was bumber to bumper traffic to Long Beach. It took us 4 hours to get home (usually a 2.5 hour trip). Apparently on the weekends, the "locals" set up shop on the main drag and watch people drive by. We thought it was because there was a car show in town. Omid asked at Jack's Country Store if the people were waiting for a parade. Our cashier said, "no, that happens every weekend. That's what we do for fun." So....for 25 miles....there were fans on both sides of the road watching the traffic (some of them with signs - both good & bad). Sudsy water was included if you felt inclined to do a burnout. Omid obliged several times (with a 24' boat behind us!!). My sister (in her volvo wagon - also right behind us) declined and drove on with fervor - despite the locals egging her on to "come on volvo!"

I felt like a celebrity driving through town. Locals were waving at us and yelling at Omid - how much they LOVED the boat. We felt special. :)

We saw the General Lee! (didn't see Uncle Jesse, Daisy, Bo or Luke)
The Locals
The guy in the grey afro really wanted Omid to do a BIG BURN OUT. Omid led him on with a big revvin' of the engine and drove on by. :) Heehee.

In the 4 years we have had Remy, he has never stolen any food off of the kitchen countertops. What he has taken are napkins, money (at least $20 worth), socks, wallets, pens, pencils, homework (really!), directions and other non-food items. Yesterday was the first time he has ever stolen food. What could have got into him? Was it the new schedule change? Who knows. Who me? Couldn't be. Then who?

This is what we do know. Naseem had half a cinnamon roll at around 6:00 a.m. yesterday morning. She placed the other half on a plate in the middle of the kitchen counter. Omid saw the cinnamon roll at around 7:30 a.m. He came home later at 11:45 a.m. and the same plate was empty. He thought I came home and ate the roll. We talked on the phone and Omid asked me if I came home for lunch. I told him no. Then he told me that he came home and the cinnamon roll was gone. The only logical explanation was that Remy ate the roll. The weird thing is: Remy didn't break the plate or move it off the counter. Either he is a graceful thief or we have some other animal living in the house who ate it.

Herman

I have had so much Amish Friendship Bread this week I think I will burst. In fact, I don't want to receive another recipe for this bread. What I want is the "original" recipe for Herman. You would remember Herman if you were a child of the 80's. Your mom always had some kind of Herman starter in the fridge and it was your job to feed Herman or let Herman starve. I LOVED Herman. Herman coffee cake, Herman rolls, etc. I especially loved the chain letter that went along with Herman. I have found several recipes online, but none seem to fit my memory correctly.

Does anyone out there have the original recipe/chain letter for Herman? If so, can I have it please?

Be careful what you wish for...

...you may just get it (I think that's how the saying goes). Remember a few months ago when I had the poll asking if Omid should grow a goatee or not? Well he is now forced to grow one and he doesn't want one. Poor guy! Let me fill you in on what happened last night.

Omid wanted to make eggrolls and calimari for dinner. He was outside deep frying the eggrolls and having a wonderful time chatting with moi. All of a sudden, one of the eggrolls in the deep fryer just exploded (!) in Omid's face - peppering him with hot oil. We put some burn medicine on his face and he seemed ok. This morning was a different story. When he woke up, he had several small blisters on his face and he couldn't shave on that area. That area happens to be the exact same place where a mustache & goatee would be if he wanted to grown them.

Poor Omid!! I wanted the mustache & goatee - but not on these terms. :(

Happy Birthday Paul Harvey!

While driving home from work today I was listening to the noon news. Paul Harvey came on afterwards (or rather the announcer who was filling in for Paul). He said Paul had the day off as it was his 90th birthday and he would be back on the air tomorrow. I couldn't believe it. He has been in radio for 64 years. Amazing. He his always fun to listen to while in the car. Even my kids enjoy listening. Happy Birthday Paul!

Chicken Fricassee (aka: creamed chicken)

**Update: While this dish is so tasty & is perfect comfort food; it will not sit well with those who despise casseroles. I am talking about my hubby & chicklets. They agreed it tasted good, but looked terrible. What it is - is good, comfort food. I will be having it tomorrow for lunch.

Now that I actually have more free time to "job hunt", I also have more time to cook/bake. I found this recipe about 15 years ago and make it every once and a while. Today just seemed like a good day to make it. It being the first day of school and all, we can have a tasty/homey dinner. This dish may look boring, but it tastes great. Have on hand plenty of mashed potatoes, biscuits, rice or cornbread to serve along with it.

Chicken Fricassee

4 or 5 pounds cut up chicken
1 medium onion
2- celery stalks with leaves - chopped
3-4 sprigs parsley
1 bay leaf
2-3 peppercorns
1 1/2 t. salt
1 cup 1/2 & 1/2
2 t. lemon juice
4 T. butter
4 T. flour

Put chicken in a pot and add 3-4 cups water. Bring to a boil & skim off foam. Add veggies, herbs, peppercorns & salt. Cover tightly & simmer until thickest pieces of chicken are done. Remove chicken from broth. Strain broth & cool slightly. Skim fat & save. Heat 4 T. butter and blend in 4 T. flour. Cook stirring constantly for a minute or 2. Remove from heat and slowly beat in 2 cups of the reserved chicken broth & half & half. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring until the sauce thickens slightly. Blen in the lemon juice. Add chicken and any collected juices. Heat thoroughly. Serve in a warm serving dish and garnish with sprigs of parsley. Enjoy!

Not your school salad bar

Here's an upside of being a part-timer - coming home to lunch like this:

Omid was home for lunch as well and made us these great salads with smoked sturgeon.

Labor Day

I am playing along with a Labor Day themed meme from Rocks in my Dryer. Play along too (just copy & paste your own answers & leave a link in the R-i-m-D blog).

How long were your labors?
With Nas 24 hours and 13 hours with Matty.
How did you know you were in labor?
Felt like the worse menstrual cramps ever (both times).
Where did you deliver?
Hospital.
Drugs?
That was the plan....but babies have their own agendas. Natural childbirth with both of my babies. After Nas' birth I swore I would be drugged for the next...and it didn't happen.
C-section?
Nope.
Who delivered?
Doctors.

A last hurrah

We had our final party of the summer last night. Just a little impromptu thing. Tammie & the kids came over. We ate the delicious fish Omid smoked and tried a new wine called montepulciano. Did a little moonwalking & embarrassed the kids (it's always a party over here). Omid brought out dessert: ice cream & apple pie; then Tammie took Nas home with her and we kept Austin. Everyone had loads of fun.

The responsible adults.

Austin & Matty

Tammie is talking to a friend of ours who got her nose pierced on Friday. She is getting all the gory details.

Omid mixed the last bit of smoked salmon with 1/2 a brick of cream cheese. This was our lunch today.