5.31.2011

Most memorable moment/favorite teacher from elementary school?

As the school year is drawing to a close, I have been doing a lot of reflecting... how my first year of teaching went, what I'll do differently next year, what did my kids do this year that really made me laugh, and the list goes on...

One of the reasons I started blogging was to not only post my own ideas/feelings, but to INTERACT with others. I write to get responses.  In the book The Happiness Project, the author often includes bloggers' responses to her questions and they are so fun to read!  I'd like to do the same.

So, please, just take a moment to answer at least one the following questions (oh, and you don't have to be a member.. please participate!  I would love to read your responses.)

What is your most memorable moment/favorite thing that happened in elementary school?

Who was your favorite teacher and why?

5.30.2011

French Bread Recipe

Looking for a tasty french bread recipe to go with a pasta dish or soup?  This is one that Collin and I use and love.  We just finished baking the bread and are looking forward to enjoying it tonight with our alfredo pasta and oil/balsamic vinegar to dip.

4 cups bread flour
2 teaspoon active quick rising dry yeast
2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups warm water


1. Put 3 3/4 cups bread flour in a large bowl. Spoon the yeast on one side of the bowl, and the salt on the other side. Pour in the warm water and mix until the dough comes clean from sides of the bowl (about 5 minutes hand-mixed). Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

2. Mix dough again for 3 minutes. Place dough on the counter.  Knead by hand until the dough is very satiny, smooth, tight and formed into a nice, compact ball.  Lightly oil the bowl and place the dough back inside the bowl. Turn dough over so that all sides have a thin coating of oil. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours to rise. Dough should almost double in size.

looking good so far... note one of my favorite tea kettles in the background :)


3. After the dough has risen fully, cut the dough into half – shape one half at a time (keep the other piece under wraps) Pick up the dough – stretch it out until it forms a big rectangle. Dust your work surface with flour and fold over the ends of the dough like this:
French Bread
make sure you pinch up those sides so there are no leaks!
Now do a little “karate chop” lengthwise down the middle of the bread and stretch out the long ends again. Fold over in half. The karate chop helps get the middle tucked inside. Pinch all sides shut to create a seal.

Here’s what it should look like:


4. Turn the bread over so that it is seam side down. Cover the loaf with a damp kitchen towel. Repeat with the other dough ball. Leave the loaves to rest on your well-floured cutting board for 30 minutes. After resting, take a sharp paring knife and make 3-4 shallow, diagonal slashes on the surface of the loaf.


5.  Bake loaves for 20-25 minutes at 450 degrees.

hot and fresh out of the oven

Healthy Lifestyle

Hello again!  Yesterday I was starting to plan a new workout/eating routine for myself, as I don't feel as healthy as I did when I was training for the Big Climb.  I thought about losing 10 pounds by eating healthier and exercising more.  The trouble is, I think I do a pretty good job of eating healthy and I am very active already.  My focus, then, will be to "tone up."

Often, I still feel like the old 218 lb. Millie from 3.5 years ago.  Yes, Collin and I did the math yesterday and now I've kept off my weight for 3.5 years. I AM PROUD OF IT!  Just as a note, for those of you who have only known me since I've lost my weight, it took me about 1 year to lose 68 pounds.  I did it through LOTS of exercise and healthy eating (I gradually eliminated unhealthy choices--I didn't just quit cold turkey).  To date, I have lost a total of 72 pounds= 1/3 of my original weight.  Despite losing that much weight, it still takes looking at pictures to realize I'm really not as big as I feel.  I have a few pictures of myself that I absolutely HATE with a passion.  I look at them and realize why I felt so sluggish, unattractive, lazy.  Here is the worst one.  I cringe when I look at it and I am terribly embarrassed to post it:

worst. picture. ever.
I have been "dieting" since I was in the 6th grade.  So why did it take me so long to shed the pounds and make a permanent change? A few summers ago, my gram had a heart attack.  She was a healthy weight; the heart attack was brought on my stress (from being over-worked at Wal-Mart... I could post another whole blog about that one).  As she was laying in her hospital bed, she said, "Girl, you better get healthy."  That was all that it took for me to begin my healthy lifestyle.  The consequences of unhealthy eating were finally real.  I wasn't just trying to diet to look good anymore; I was making lifestyle changes to LIVE.  That's why I think most diets are unsuccessful; they are temporary plans that are used to improve your appearance, but don't have a lasting positive impact on your overall health.  I made changes that I always knew I could live with.  I would never cut out chocolate- that would just be a depressed life for me.  But I can live with only a few pieces per week.

I will never be that 218 pound Millie again.  My constant goal for the last 3.5 years has been "feel the best that you ever have."  Up to this point, the best that I've ever felt was when I was running stairs 4-5 times per week in preparation to climb 1,311 steps.  I felt good about myself because I was able to train with elite stair climbers of Seattle's XGym.  I was meeting up with and getting tips from PJ Glassey, one of the top stair climbers in the world.  I felt something I never had before--I felt like an athlete.  The "people-pleaser" part of me loved giving it my all and getting recognition from PJ, "Wow, that's a great time Millie,"  or "this is really only your first stair climb?"  I always felt like he couldn't possibly be talking to ME, after all, I was still that 218 pound girl.

Now that the Big Climb has been over for a few months, I've slid back into the routine of just walking several times per week--but that isn't making me feel as good as intense workouts were.  I do have another stairclimb coming up in October--the Fight for Air Climb in Bellevue--the longest stairclimb in the world: 180 floors (over 3,000 steps)... I plan to get back in the routine of stair training with XGym in Seattle when I go to school at the UW through July.  Until then, I plan to tone up and continue to eat healthy.

I am going to celebrate my accomplishment by taking a look and reflecting on some pictures of me at my new, healthy weight (it'll take 3 good ones to counteract the bad one above :)

about to race up 1,311 steps!

This is one of the first pictures that convinced me, yeah, you have lost a lot of weight Millie! (only 3 years later)

At last, I don't have to take 9823754892735 pictures before I get a "good" one.

5.28.2011

Oly Adventure

One of mine and Collin's favorite thing to do is walk in Olympia.  In fact, we walk at least 3 miles about 4-7 times per week.  We just rarely take the camera.  Now that I have a blog to keep me more busy than usual, I thought it'd be fun to log one of our adventures.  Here are some of the photos we took on this wonderfully sunny day:

View from above Capital Lake

View right next to me.

All geared up

Happy!

One of my favorite viewpoints is from below branches and leaves.

The Capitol: where laws are passed about teachers, by people who have never taught.
Down by the lake

Beautiful Scene

5.26.2011

Dora

Yesterday, in my first blog post ever, I mentioned one reason for blogging is for others to get to know the real me better.  To understand the core of me, basically, you must first know that I am a huge ANIMAL LOVER.   Literally, I would rather hang out with animals than people.  No offense ;)

Today was a very long, busy day, but I came home to something that fills me with so much joy a few nights per week.  Her name is Dora.


When we first moved into our apartment in September '10, we always saw this white cat wandering around outside.  It was friendly and attention-seeking, but also a little skittish.  Collin and I began calling her "Whitey."  How original!

One night, on our way to our apartment, we saw Whitey, our upstairs neighbor (who we call "Stompy"... you may understand why we've given our upstairs neighbor such a name), and a young woman gathered downstairs.  We heard from the young woman, "her name is Dora.  She is an explorer.  We used to live in the country and she was able to roam around outside, so we're letting her wander around here."  Ah ha! We finally got her name.  As I'm writing this, I'm now remembering Dora used to hang out with a calico kitten that we called Patch (had a brown patch on one eye).

Well, over the course of a few weeks, we started noticing Stompy letting Dora inside his apartment, although it clearly belonged to the woman who lived a few apartments away.  We though it was kind of sketchy, but one night we realized just how rough Dora had it with her actual owner.  On the night of Black Friday (our first one either of us had ever gone to), we went outside in the wee hours of the morning, while it was pouring down rain outside, and heard Dora's meow.  It was so loud and sorrowful and we finally discovered her sitting outside the door of her owner's place (the lights were on inside).  We went out for a few hours, came back, and she was still up there meowing her little kitty lungs out (the lights weren't on anymore). :(

As Stompy started letting Dora into his apartment, we wondered if he adopted her from her other owner.  Still, it was only occasional that Dora would come over to Stompy's.  We haven't seen Dora's original owner in months now, and Dora comes home to Stompy nightly.  Dora is so lucky now.  It's hilarious to hear Dora meow once outside and you can hear RUNNING Stompy getting to the door as fast as possible.  Sometimes I get excited that she's outside and want to go pet her, but he's always too quick to let her in.  We've never talked to Stompy, but he lives by himself and I am quite glad that they have become such close companions.

The thing that I love most about Dora being here is that I come home a few nights per week to see her downstairs, as if guarding the staircase.  She loves it when I play with her and pet her, and it almost feels as if she's my pet, although I don't have to take on the responsibilities of having one.  Now, if we could actually have a pet of our own right now, I would gladly take on the responsibilities in a heartbeat.  I just love animals TOO much.  It's crazy how happy a little kitty can make me, even though I am really a dog person!

On a side note, check out this ADORABLE blue heeler I found on CraigsList the other day... we would have gotten him if we lived in a house with a yard: