"I Am Not A Pin Cushion!"

My cat, Salem, is an odd creature, defying some of the typical habits associated with cats. Cats are largely carnivores, yet this finicky feline doesn't like meat or dairy (with the exception of a little milk). She would rather starve than to eat canned cat food, preferring dry kibble. However, her one habit that drives me crazy is her kneading, a common activity that cats seem to enjoy. As she kneads my lap, she loves to extend her claws, causing them to puncture through my blankets. She's drawn blood on numerous occasions. I can't tell you how many times I've screamed, "I am not a pin cushion!," as she extends her hind claws into my thighs.

While she's an odd girl, she is the quintessential black cat that blends into the darkness, sending you crashing to the floor as she trips you the moment you cross her path! She's a true Halloween cat - trick or treat!

Looking Forward to Autumn

Every year, the beginning of school makes me think of the fun activities that await me over the next few months. From school football games, to gatherings, to festivals, the fall season is filled with anticipation. From October through December, I'm anxious to be out and about. The cooler weather that fall brings is largely to blame. While others are lured outside by a warm sun, overcast skies and chilly temperatures beckon me from indoors. I've always been a cold-weather person; I prefer to bundle up from the cold than to roast from the heat. However, my physical comfort is only part of my love for this season. This season pleasantly assaults my senses and never fails to bring a smile to my face.

There are so many aspects about this time of the year that I love: The days become cooler, the leaves begin to change from green to the vivid hues of red, yellow, and orange, and aromas of pumpkin pie, spices, homemade apple butter, and hot cider begin to fill the air. I love to walk through thick layers of fallen leaves and hear them rustle under my feet as I make them fly in every direction. I also love those chilly, windy days that make hot mugs of cider and chocolate a special treat. I love to wake up in the morning to see frost cover everything outside. The grass glistens, all is quiet, and everything is right with the world. As the cold air seeps into the house, I can begin to snuggle under those thick comforters that invite sleep to come more easily, while the glow from candles makes the house feel cozy.

In Ohio, one of the biggest events I looked forward to was the Circleville Pumpkin Show, held in Circleville, Ohio. After eating my fill of foods made with pumpkin and browsing the many craft tents, I would return home late at night happy and ready for bed (By the way, pumpkin pizza is really good, it's worth a taste!). Last year, my family moved before I could attend the show and I truly missed this annual treat. While Texas also has a lot going on, I was too busy trying to get us settled into our new home to enjoy the season. This year, now that we're settled, I plan to take a closer look at what my new home state has to offer.

The Sweet Life

I'm not talking about a life of leisure, rather the world of confections. Upon arriving home a short time ago, I let my son play freely while I went to check my emails. When I walked into the kitchen, where my son was enjoying himself, I discovered him standing on a bar stool that he had pushed against the dishwasher. Above the dishwasher is our microwave, and atop that appliance was a small wicker basket containing a dozen or so peppermint candy canes. He had helped himself to the candy, managed to unwrap one cane, and presented me with a mouth covered in red coloring and the cane positioned horizontally in his mouth. My son is quickly developing a sweet tooth to rival mine, but like me, he must watch how much and what he eats.

On the kitchen table sits a gift bag that I received on my first day at school, and among the goodies were some small snack packs of various treats. I had chosen to eat a packet of peanut M&Ms at my desk and I began to think about the joys that lie within the confections we enjoy. Some people prefer hard candies, while others prefer candy that doesn't possess a lot of sweetness to it. Regardless of what a person prefers, our treats can become special occasions in miniature, wrapped in bits of cellophane. While those little pleasures slowly diminish in our mouths, we can always relive the moment by having another piece. Our favorite sweets lift our spirits when we're down or stressed, help make a special moment even more special, give us something to share with another person, and serve as a self-reward for a day's work. However, a person can have too much of a good thing, and it's important to not go overboard when indulging. By limiting your intake, you can continue to enjoy over the years without tiring of the pleasure.

My own weaknesses involve ice cream (as long as it's not vanilla - too boring and bland for me) and anything chocolate. Belgian chocolate is my favorite! I also adore cinnamon candies, Reese's cups, peanut M&Ms, and Ferrer Rocher hazelnut/chocolate balls. I would also savor a slice of Black Forest torte or a bowl of cherry cobbler with plenty of topping. A chocolate lava cake would be the perfect end to any meal, and pumpkin pie is a requirement during the holidays.

If I were to host a dessert buffet consisting of my favorite sweets to share with others, not only would I include the above-mentioned goodies, but I would also have baklava (another food that I would never refuse), Turkish delights, chocolate cream pie, sweet potato pie, and Tex-Mex sopaipillas with chocolate sauce for dipping.

If you could have a dessert buffet and choose your favorite confections and desserts for the spread, what delights would you choose for your table?

Getting Left Behind

This entire week is an in-service week for faculty and staff in preparation for the first day of school on Monday. Today, I sat through a day-long seminar on at-risk kids, what signs to look for, and how to intervene to make sure that those kids don't fall through the cracks. While some faculty were bored (probably from attending yet another year of this state-mandated seminar), I found it interesting. I learned much more than I thought I would learn. This seminar was not my first choice, as I was looking forward to a writing academy that my partner was assigned to do; however, she suggested that I attend this class to improve my understanding of the students that I would be working with, and I'm glad I took her suggestion.


Upon walking into the auditorium, we were handed a packet and a book entitled, "Under-Resourced Learners: 8 strategies to boost student achievement," by Ruby K. Payne, Ph. D. In this book, Payne identifies the various strategies that not only enhance a teacher's effectiveness when interacting with his students, but also help identify the warning signs that an at-risk student will project in school. Too many kids get left behind because we teachers either forget what it was really like as a kid, are in denial that anything horrific could be going on in a student's life, or we are too busy trying to teach and manage all of the other duties that go along with it to really pay attention to the more subtle signals a student may give us. The experiences a student has outside the classroom can have a direct impact on that student's academic performance. The usual teen angst is bad enough, but for those dealing with unidentified learning problems, abuse, or even socioeconomic hardships, the ability to learn becomes a greater struggle.

It amazed me that despite my short amount of experience in the classroom, I could relate to much of what was being discussed. I could also relate on a personal level, having had my own set of problems throughout my primary and secondary education. Thankfully, I had several teachers who truly cared about me, picked up on my signals, and intervened in one form or another. As I only received this book today, I haven't had a chance to really read through it, but I can tell that this book is a good one for teachers to have. I look forward to applying what I've learned when we begin working with our students, as all of the students whom I will be dealing with are already identified as at-risk kids.

Dazed and Confused

This is the first time in over 2 years that I've worked full-time. Now that I've returned to this status, I'm finding that readjusting to 8-hour work days has left me in a mental haze. While I look forward to my new work, I wonder how well I'll adjust to these hours. I've never been an early riser by nature; my natural clock insists on 8 or 9:00 a.m. for a waking time and about 11:00 p.m. for bedtime. I typically do not feel fully awake until 10 a.m. regardless of what time I wake up; I often feel addled and in a haze in the morning hours.

I find it interesting how different people are when it comes to their internal clocks. Most of my family members are early risers, with the exception of my uncle, who has medical reasons partly to blame for his sleep habits. How I wound up with an internal clock that prefers a time frame out of sync with the rest of the world is anyone's guess. I've had people tell me that after a while, a person adjusts and waking at a certain time is no longer a problem; however, the last time I worked day hours, I never had an easy time of waking early for the entire 7 years that I worked for my employer. My body never adjusted. Now, I must wake even earlier than I did previously, as the school day begins at 7 a.m. By 1 p.m., I find myself ready for a long nap, feeling Mr. Sandman's efforts to close my eyelids as I'm standing. Even as I type this entry, my brain is already turning to mush from the day's activities and is ready to turn in before everything is done.

With a completely new schedule, I'm interested to see how well I hold up and for how long.

A New Path

Today was the first day at my new position as a teacher's aide, and I finally got to meet the teacher whom I am partnered with and felt at ease with my new colleague. This week consists of in-service training for all teachers and staff before we welcome back returning students and greet incoming freshmen for another year of learning.

During the opening statements by district officials and our high school principal, it became clear that I have entered into something very special. Our district is recognized by the state for an exemplary rating, and to my knowledge, we are the only district with that distinction in the state. Our school district's proficiency exam scores demonstrated the quality of the teaching staff and the lengths this school system is willing to go to to ensure the greatest chance of success for the students in our care. Except for one subject at the 11th grade level, the proficiency exams for the 8th and 11th grades increased from last year's scores and our district exceeded state and national score standards in 2 or 3 areas. Additionally, this school district continues to thrive, with 2 campuses and a transportation garage currently under construction and slated for use by the next school year. Two other structures are in the works for agricultural science and swimming, as well. All of this is necessary due to the burgeoning student body that continues to grow annually. Many parents in our vicinity are moving into this district just to get their children into our schools.

With everything that I've learned about this school system, I'm glad that my family is in this district. I know that I will be working beside highly qualified educators who truly care about the success of their students, and I know that my son will be receiving a good education. I hope that when I do become certified to teach, that I can remain with my school and serve its students in a capacity greater than I can currently provide. I'm glad I chose this path - I'm finally heading in the right direction.

A New Lesson in Baking

One of the most perplexing aspects of a gluten-free, dairy-free diet is how to create baked goods without them tasting absolutely terrible. I've always loved to bake, and have always been very good at it. I grew up enjoying the many concoctions that were created using either regular all-purpose flour or Bisquick/Jiffy. When it came to strawberry shortcake, only Bisquick would do. One of my weaknesses was eating the shortcake dough before it ever made it into the baking pan! It had that subtle sweetness that appealed to my tastebuds. Now, I must reserve that kind of baking for myself or when baking for some sort of occasion outside the home. For family baking, I must use the multitude of flours that I now have at my disposal, such as: teff, quinoa, white sweet sorghum, white rice, brown rice, tapioca, buckwheat, and garbanzo bean flours - none of which can be used on their own. Their individual properties must be blended with 2 or 3 other flours to produce the proper effect in a given recipe. Since these flours contain no gluten, I also have to replace the protein with something else. Guar gum is an option but is expensive. Xanthan gum performs equally well and costs less, so that is what I use. A person can pre-mix these flours for specific purposes ahead of time, but that requires additional space for more storage containers, which I don't have. Bob's Red Mill already has some flour mixes for all-purpose and biscuits. I've yet to muster up the courage to delve into the world of gluten-free baking using my other flours individually.

Baking, regardless of your dietary concerns, is a virtual chemistry lab. In order for all of the ingredients to work together to make something delicious, you must have just the right amount of each ingredient or the finished product simply will not turn out. Unlike cooking on the stovetop, there's much less flexibility in baking when mixing in the key ingredients.

Today, I made an attempt at making wheat-free shortbread from scratch, as I have 6 1/2 pounds of prepared strawberries ready for devouring in the form of strawberry shortcake. I used a recipe from Bob's Red Mill and I followed it until I screwed up and poured in all of the wet ingredients rather than just pouring until the flour was just moist. I compensated with a bit more flour, added some extra sugar, kneaded until I thought the dough consistency was to my liking, and placed it in a cake pan rather than rolling and cutting, as the directions suggested. The dough tasted terrible! However, I decided to chance it and bake it anyway. To my amazement, the finished product tasted far better than it did in dough form. Perhaps this should be a lesson to me to not give up so easily on my efforts. If you'd like to try your hand at this, here's the recipe:

Bob's Red Mill Wheat-free Shortbread

INGREDIENTS:
2-1/2 cups Wheat Free Biscuit & Baking Mix
2 Tb Sugar
1/2 cup Butter or (1/4 cup Vegetable Oil)
1/2 cup Milk or Water
1 Egg, slightly beaten

Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet, set aside.In a mixing bowl, combine mix and sugar. In another bowl blend melted butter (or oil if using), water and egg. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients until just moistened. Knead 10 times on lightly floured work surface; roll out to 3/4” thickness. Cut dough with floured cutter. Place shortcakes on prepared cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes, until golden brown. Add your favorite fruit and whipped topping