New Recipe - well sort of - but not really

In my quest to find the perfect frozen meal, my family has been subjected to many, many dinners that when we are lucky, taste okay. Since I have been working full time, I am often too tired to cook. Some days when I do cook, I find that whoever is out, doesn't know how to cook. One day after attempting to cook something that I can usually cook, my poor husband asked, "Did you forget how to cook?"  He has been a good sport and will often (meaning most of the time) buy dinners that look easy to prepare.

I swear that most frozen meals have an ingredient called "bottom of the ice tray flavoring" because I can taste it. Often the first bite of a frozen dinner tastes good, but the after taste is definitely bottom of the ice tray along with some flavor that reminds me of plastic coated chemicals.

I bought a frozen meal a few months ago, but I have been too scared to try it. In my attempt to clean out the freezer, I made it a few nights ago. It smelled really good while it was cooking. The vegetables and the noodles were a bit freezer burned from being in the freezer so long, so I was doubtful it would taste as good as it smelled. When my son and husband smelled it, they both said, "What smells so good."

We blessed it (is it an abomination to bless frozen meals?) and sat down to eat. This dinner tasted like something from a restaurant - freezer burn and all. I went to the store the next day and bought two more of this meal and two of another (all by the same company). When I cooked the freshly bought meal that had no freezer burn, it tasted even better. I now crave this stuff. The vegetables look like they are fresh from the garden. The shrimp was divine. The noodles and the sauce were heaven.

What is this company that fails to flavor their frozen dinners like the norm? It is Contessa. The two meals I have tried are Shrimp Primavera (my favorite) and Sesame Chicken. They don't use MSG in their meals which is wonderful because MSG gives me migraines. The food looks beautiful and goes from the freezer to the table in eight minutes - eight minutes - I can't even check Facebook that quickly!

I don't get money from companies to sell their products because my blog is anonymous, but if you buy this product, it will hopefully keep Contessa in business which means I get to satisfy my craving for Shrimp Primavera whenever I want to. It takes less time and effort to cook this stuff than it does to drive to Wendy's and go to the drive through, plus it tastes a whole lot better.

My last bag had $3 worth of coupons; I think I need to go get some more.

Book Reports = IT

Every quarter without fail, at least two or three of my students will write their book report about Dave Pelzer's book, A Child Called It. Most teachers wouldn't mind reading about his book, but I simply can not. I used to have his books in my "to read" stack, but I couldn't bring myself to read them. I gave them away.

I think that anytime a survivor of childhood abuse writes about their abuse and exposes their abusers, it is a positive step in their healing, but I can't bear to read about the details. I know first hand that abuse hurts and that it damages the soul and the body. I   don't need to read the details of the abuse of another person to know this.

That being said, I wouldn't want anyone to think that these types of books should not be published. There is tremendous value in abuse memoirs. Books like Pelzer's help educate the public to be more aware of the possibility of abuse. He helps us help children who do not have a voice.

As a teacher, I don't tell my students they can't do reports on Pelzer's books, but I can't read those reports. I asked my husband if he wanted to grade them for me, but he declined, so instead I grade based on the first paragraph and call it done. Maybe next year, I'll ask my students not to write about Pelzer's books - or maybe I won't say a word. I don't want to discourage them from reading his work.

Happy Independence Day to my Daughter

In honor of my daughter's courage, I want to wish her a happy Independence/St. Patrick's Day.
http://sunshineandshadowslifewithdid.blogspot.com/2010/07/st-patricks-day-independence-day-for-my.html
I love you sweetie! I am proud of you for taking back this day, getting a cake to celebrate, and realizing how much power you have. You are a warrior daughter!

Lowest Ebb

As we approach the end of the school year, I find myself questioning if I want to be a full time teacher. I enjoy teaching. For the most part, I like my students. I enjoy the staff, administration, and other faculty members at our school. I even enjoy coming up with creative and fun ways to present information to my students. I don’t like the bureaucracy or the time a teacher must spend outside of school in order to do a good job as a teacher.


My students are pretty good kids. I have a few that no matter what I do to inspire them, they refuse to do their work. I wish I could inspire them. I keep trying, but they don’t want to take the time to work. They are capable, they do okay on their testing, but they don’t want to do the day to day work, so they fail. I had dreams as a new teacher of making sure every one of my students passed, but I can’t do their work for them. I have one or two students per class who just don’t want to do the work. I have a couple of students who work really hard and still don’t get it. Those students are being tested to see how we can better meet their needs.

I work with a stellar group of teachers at my school. For the most part, our teachers really care about the students. They spend countless hours on their own dime to help our students succeed. Our administration is helpful and supportive. I don’t think I could work in a better school. However, I am burned out. I am in dire need of summer to get here. I am sick of our state leaders passing new education laws each February without waiting to see if the laws they passed last year even worked. I am tired of state leaders who add in testing that doesn’t pertain to our core. This means I have to take time away from what my students will see on their CRT tests to teach them a skill that they aren’t yet ready to master. I am tired of bureaucracy interrupting my classroom. I say, “Just leave us and alone, so we can commence learning.” Many of the new laws are demoralizing to teachers. I wish they would come spend three months in a classroom and sit through parent teacher conferences before they could pass laws that dictate which hoops we need to jump through.

The other issue I have with being a full time teacher is that my alters, who are not present during school hours, have taken over in the evenings and on weekends. It is not possible to do everything a teacher needs to do during the school day, but my alters want nothing to do with anything school related after hours. I have to fight all weekend to get things done that need to be done. I also have a problem with alters being out at night after I go to bed. I can feel them, and my sleep is not restful.

I’ve been told that next year will be better, but next year we get a new core which means I need to realign all my lesson plans and create new lesson plans. I know that this is the point of the year when teachers are at their lowest ebb, so I hope things will get better. If any of you are teachers, please tell me I’ll get through this. I’ve been told by administration that I am a good teacher. I know I reach students. I generally love being the classroom, but damn, I am tired.