His and Her Weekend Shenanigans

We took an impromptu blogging break because the start of the school year is crah-crah-crazy for Amanda and Sean ends up having to pick up slack around the house which makes a busy time for him too. We are going to try setting up the posts on Sunday so we can keep up with the blog throughout our oh-so-busy weeks.

But enough about that - on to our weekend shenanigans...

**For those who are new to our blog - WELCOME - purple is Amanda, red is Sean, blue is for both of us. We hope it helps make it less confusing for our readers to know who is talking and sharing. :) **

Saturday night, we went to dinner with Amanda's parents to a Brazilian restaurant about an hour away. The food is so good and well worth the drive. They have a hot and cold "Salad Festival" in the center and then people walk around to your table offering a never-ending supply of rotisserie cooked meats --- such as garlic-parmesan beef (Amanda's favorite), bacon wrapped filet mignon, bacon wrapped ham, sweet and spicy chicken, etc. They also have maple glazed pineapple (my absolute favorite) and grilled vegetables. It is all-you-can eat and everything is delicious! 

Choosing the perfect drink to go with our meal. We both had the lemonade - Sean mixed his with pineapple and passion fruit. Amanda mixed hers with passion fruit and mango. Yum!

The table filled quickly with good food and delicious drinks.

We had to take a walk around the pond outside the restaurant to help digest the food before heading home.

To help digest dinner, I spent the evening knitting. Back in the spring I started a scarf for my sister. I got sidetracked by some other projects but I picked it up again recently and forgot how much I like the pattern and the yarn I chose. I think she is really going to like it when it is finished.

My sister's scarf - about 2/3rds of the way finished.

On Sunday, while also doing laundry, school work, house work, DVR catchup, and blogging, I finished setting up my September SLANT box for my awesome partner, Wendy. I hope she loves what I put together for her. I can't wait to hear her thoughts!

What did you do this weekend? We hope you were able to enjoy the start of fall.

Happy Monday,

His Living in America - Elections 101

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It may not have hit the news in America over the weekend but Australia had a federal election last week. Seeing the coverage on Australian news and social media reminded me of how different the election system is in Australia. There are some similarities such as the minimum age and having to register to vote but many things are totally different. Here is a short list of some of the differences in regards to federal elections.


1: In Australia anyone 18 or older must be registered to vote and must vote in every election. Failure to vote will result in a $20-$180 fine unless you have a valid reason not to. Valid reasons would include being seriously ill or being outside of the country.
   In America you do not have to vote if you don't want to. You must be registered to be able to vote but you are not required to vote if you don't want to.

Kevin Rudd announcing that the election will be on Sep 7 Source

2: In Australia voting day is on Saturday
    In America voting day is on Tuesday
   
3: In Australia the elections are roughly 3 years apart. The current prime minister gets to set the date of the next election within a set window of time.The power to determine the election date can be an advantage to the current Prime Minister.
   In America voting for the president is on the first Tuesday in November every fourth year. 

4: Australia uses a preferential voting system. To vote you need to rank all of the candidates in order of preference. You would put a 1 next to your preferred candidate, then a 2 next to your next preferred candidate and so forth until all of the candidates on the ballot have a number. The process of counting and selecting a winner is quite complicated so I have included a YouTube video that will explain it much better than I can.
     In America voters select one candidate per office on their ballot.    

    
 5: The prime minister is not directly voted for by the citizens in Australia. Instead they vote for their parliamentarian, (which is similar to a member of Congress in the U.S) and then the political party that has the most seats in parliament chooses a leader who is the prime minister. 
     The President of the U.S is voted by using the electoral college. Each voter selects a panel of electors and then those electors, known as the electoral college, actually cast the official votes for the president. The video below explains it quite well.

I hope you enjoyed learning all about Australian and U.S. elections. Which country's system do you prefer?

His and Her Never Ever Ever (Week 15)

It's Tuesday so that means it's time to play...

**For those who are new to our blog - WELCOME - purple is Amanda, red is Sean, blue is for both of us. We hope it helps make it less confusing for our readers to know who is talking and sharing. :) **

It seems like Amanda will never, ever, ever...
-be able to leave school before 5:00. --- I set the goal of leaving by 4:30 for myself at the beginning of the year, but this year I have been particularly late each day. Getting home at 6:00 with work in my tote bag is exhausting!

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-feel as confident about teaching English as I do about teaching Civics. --- I know how important reading is and I over-analyze and second-guess myself constantly about what I'm doing, whether the kids are learning, and what I could be doing better.

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-get all the to-do list items checked off and ready to go. --- I swear that thing is multiplying. Each time I check off one item, two more take it's place.  

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It seems like Sean will never, ever, ever...
-catch up on the gardening. --- I'd like to thing I be able to keep up with the mowing at least, but by the time I get everything else done around the house the grass is out of control.

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-catch up on the dishes. --- No matter how many times I empty the sink, I turn around and it is full again.

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We cheated this week a little and said what it seemed like would never happen. It's been a week of overwhelming to-do lists for both of us at work and at home. We cannot stand that feeling. Hoping it will settle down soon.

Happy Tuesday,

   

His Weekend Shenanigans

Most of our weekend was pretty boring so this Weekend Shenanigans will be about the big event -- my first disc golf tournament in Virginia Beach.

Playing in the Cottonmouth Classic

     I have been playing disc golf for about 18 months and I play whenever I get a chance. Its very similar to regular golf except you play with a frisbee style disc and you aim for baskets like the one pictured to the left. Most courses are free to play and are in city parks. You only need one disc to start so it's a pretty cheap hobby.

    Normally I play with my friends or relatives at a course nearby for fun. I felt that it was time to participate in a real competition and see how I would fare. I knew most people would be much better than I am but I thought I might learn a few new techniques or tips to play better and that I would have a good time even if I finished last. I found a tournament that was about an hour from the house and I talked my father in law into playing with me.

My bag with several discs and water bottles

      We got to the park, signed in and practiced for a while before the tournament started. We also watched some of the other people practicing and saw that many of them were really really good. There were about 100 people playing so it was a pretty popular competition. We were split up into 4 person groups and headed out to our first tee.

      I was hopeful that since I had registered us in the "non serious" division that we would play from the shorter distance tees. However this was not the case as we had to play from the long tees for the first round. I knew this would be a disadvantage as I cannot throw the distance that some of the others in my division can, but I hoped that accuracy would make up for the shorter distances I would throw. I did ok in the first round and although I had a high score I didn't go out of bounds or get any of my discs wet. My father in law was not so lucky and got the same disc wet twice. Once I was able to fish it out as it was right next to the shore line but the second time it went into the middle of the inlet and it will now be a new toy for the fishes. Maybe they can practice putting with it.

Some of the prizes for the winners of each division.

     As expected our scores were near the bottom of the standings. We had lunch and then headed out for the second round. I was excited for this round as the distances were much shorter and I was more familiar with the course. I played pretty well and even though I had a few less than perfect throws, I managed to beat my previous round scores by 15 throws which I was very happy with.

     We ended up finished near the bottom of the standings but we both had a great time and I was a lot closer to the people above me then I had expected. I am sure that with some more practice I can get better results in future tournaments. I have a few more tournaments lined up that I would like to play in so I will keep playing and hopefully be a little further up in the standings next time. No matter where I place I plan to have a good time and enjoy every tournament I enter. Who knows maybe one day I will be near the top of the leaderboard!

Her Baking Saturday

Today is a "chill" day for me. Sean is out playing in a disc golf tournament so I have the house to myself. Yay! After a long first week of school I was looking forward to sleeping in, watching some shows on my DVR, and relaxing. My hope is that this head cold I can feel coming on will go away after a day of R&R. 

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All day yesterday, I had a feeling that I wanted to bake. I have not baked in a while - since before Australia. After going back and forth between cookies and brownies, I decided I wanted brownies. 

I am a brownie-a-holic. It is my go-to, favorite dessert. I love a good brownie! It doesn't matter whether they are plain, with chocolate chips, with nuts, with caramel topping ...brownies are amazing! I have quite a few brownie recipes already that I like but I have yet to find a homemade brownie that I love! I checked Pioneer Woman and a few other sites before heading over to Brown Eyed Baker's blog. I have made many of her items and they are always great.

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She posted about a Baked Brownie back in 2010 and within the first few sentences I knew I had found the recipe I wanted to try. This is what she said, 

 The famed Baked brownie. Oprah says it’s one of her favorite things. America’s Test Kitchens says its their favorite brownie. I don’t put much stock in Oprah, but America’s Test Kitchens are pretty much like the bible when it comes to all things kitchen. I check their reviews before any other recipes, and before I buy any kitchen equipment or new ingredients. So, if it’s their favorite brownie, I need to take a serious look.

She also claims that the brownies are rich, dense, and fudge-y. She is speaking my language with those words.

I gathered up the ingredients this morning and set about making the brownies. They are not super simple - meaning it is not a dump everything in, stir, and go. BUT...they are not difficult either. I like the baking process so something with a few extra steps does not bother me at all. My only problem with the recipe was the baking time. The recipe calls for a 30 minute bake and mine took almost 60. I read through the comments on the blog and found others who had similar problems. I was worried about the brownies tasting burnt or overcooked but I couldn't pull them out of the oven when they were raw in the middle. I posted a comment asking Brown Eyed Baker what her thoughts were so I am hoping she can shed some light on the problem. 

My brownies weren't nearly as pretty as Brown Eyed Baker's, but taste is way more important anyway! :)

My overall impression of the brownies: HOLY COW!! Amazing!!! Terrific!!! Delicious!!! Insanely good!! Basically - I have found the brownie recipe I have been looking for. I found the brownie recipe I love! I am already planning the next time I will make them. I'm thinking a school potluck or a community group meeting at church would be perfect.
 Actually, I think I will take a brownie or two to my Principal on Monday. After all, she did pull the first fire drill of the year during the time I was on planning and the 8th graders were in their elective classes. No kids during the first, and most crazy, fire drill?? I think that deserves a brownie. :) :)

Now I am off to enjoy some more chill time, maybe a small amount of laundry, my Project Runway and Top Chef: Masters episodes from this week, and at least one (or three) more brownies. 

Enjoy your Saturday,

His and Her Happies and Crappies (Week 34)

TGIF!!! This has been a loooooooooong week! Exhausting for sure. So grateful for the weekend. Before we can celebrate though, we need to link up and look back on our week...

Happies:
My school year is up and running. Things are going good - the kids and I are hitting a rhythm. They are working hard and really trying. 

Things are settling down at work. The chaos of the first few days has subsided and things are a little more calm.

The first day of school was hectic but thanks to my mom and dad and a coworker, I had two great reasons to smile.

 

I taught myself something new with my disc golf this week. I am very excited to test it out during the tournament this weekend.

The dog had been trying to chew all of the fur off of his paws and tail but thanks to a bath and some Benadryl, he seems to have stopped. 

Work was fairly calm and not stressful which is always good.


Crappies:
Tired - tired - tired - tired! *phew* I am so tired!!

I set a goal to leave school by 4:00 each day and I have not met my goal on any day. I hope next week I can get done what needs to be done so I can go home.

A crazy dispatcher lied to me the other day, telling me a driver would be there at 3. He showed at 5.

The last few days I have been very tired but there will be no sleeping in this weekend. I will have to go to sleep early next week to try to catch up.

What would make your happies and crappies list for this week?

Happy Weekend,

Her August SLANT Box Reveal

I love getting mail. Who doesn't right? And when the mail takes the form of a package full of hand picked just for me items then that is even better! Enter SLANT Boxes!

Thanks to Jameson at Lessons with Coffee and all her hard work, I received an amazing and wonderful back to school gift from Natalie at Teachery Tidbits. Here's how the SLANT box works...
    Participants head over to Jameson's blog and fill out a simple entry form.
    She organizes all of the entries and matches everyone up with one person to send a box to and a different person who will send you a box.
    The participants talk about their lives and classrooms, likes and dislikes, learning as much as they can about one another. They also talk about the month's theme so they can tailor the box.
    Participants then shop and design a box with their partner in mind.
    When the box is ready, you ship it to your partner and wait anxiously for yours to come in the mail.
    When it arrives, you open it gleefully and smile at the gifts chosen by your partner. 

This month's theme was "A Few of My Favorite Things".  Natalie, the lovely lady sending me a box, asked a few questions and hit the nail on the head with everything she sent. The box was perfect and I have already started using several of these items in my classroom. I love everything!!!! 

She included:

Some Green Mountain Breakfast Blend K-Cups - my absolute fave!!

Some colorful Expo markers and new pens!!

An adorable, handmade (a requirement of Jameson's -- one item must be handmade) plaque with a purple (my fave!!) background and a dog bone for Alex (awwww!!)!

Natalie - I love, love, love everything in the box. Thank you for participating in the SLANT Box exchange, for being so super sweet, and for choosing these items for me. It really means a lot to me!! :)

I have already signed up for September's swap and cannot wait to find out who I am sending a box to and from whom I will be receiving a box. This is really fun and I definitely think that any teachers out there who are interested should head over to Jameson's blog and check it out. Maybe we could be matched up in the future?!?!

Happy Mailing,