MIA!

My dear friends, I promise I'm not ignoring or giving up my blog again! But unfortunately, I am in the midst of moving apartments (ack!), so I will be MIA for a little while as we relocate, and more importantly, regain our sanity.

I'll be back soon!

Dear Autumn,

I love you!

Your pretty colors, cozy sweaters, crisp air -- it's all wonderful. And you kick off the holiday season, really. You've got this fantastic sense of anticipation mixed with nostalgia for me. And anyone who knows me knows I'm a nostalgia kind o' gal -- for better or for worse.

The past few days, the sun has been out and there's been a breeze. Okay, so more than a breeze... but not gale force winds as we sometimes [er, typically] have in our region. Anyway, I swear there have been times I've been walking to my car on these days and I've been lucky enough to have my senses take me to another place and time.

I know, that sounds weird. But you know what I mean -- like when you hear that song or smell that smell... it brings your senses back so you almost feel like you're back in that memory again.

This weather, the air, the breeze -- brought me back to the lawn of my parents' house. Quiet. Calm. Peaceful. Perfect. To a time when I was a less-than-charming teenage Megan (whatever that means, I guess). I almost felt like I was there and that age again.

And so I stopped, right there in the middle of the sidewalk. I closed my eyes and breathed deep and tried to stay there just a little while.

And it worked. At least for a few seconds, I was there.

I could see the beautiful reds, oranges, yellows -- autumn on the maple trees. I could hear the cottonwood leaves rustling in the breeze.

My oldest brother mentioned this past summer what a comforting sound the cottonwood leaves make. It's the sound we've heard all our lives, growing up there. Prior to that, I'd never thought of it -- I was so used to it. But I've never been away from home for too long at a time and have apparently had no problems taking that perfect, soothing sound for granted. Well, until this year anyway. It's been weeks since I've been home. And in the city, you aren't lucky enough to hear that sound.

Except for when your senses bring you there, just for a moment.

Mr. Autumn, please don't let the maple leaves drop too quickly in their yard. I want to make it home to enjoy it, and all of the perfect, cozy, comforting pieces of fall before it's gone.

Love,
me.

Third Grade Math Test Question

On our first math test of the year, one of the questions states:

Write two things that you are sure will not happen.

My fave response?

"We can't use the force"

Can you say, "bonus points" for awesome Star Wars-ness?

Bahaha, I love my job!

Sweet Words of the Day...

Loud chattering heard all the way down the hall.

My heels click, click, click down the hallway and suddenly, loud "SHHHHHH! SHHHH! She's coming!" voices.

Suddenly, the loud chattering stops.

I walk into my classroom to find all 24 of my sweet students sitting nicely in their desks, hands in their laps. Innocent smiles on each face...

Naturally, I know what they want. A marble. And some tickets. Marbles count toward class parties -- tickets are for acting especially good individually. It makes me smile inside and I give them a half-suspecting smirk.

"Wow..." I say, as if I have no idea what they're up to. They giggle with delight.

As I near my desk, quite possibly the sweetest words come out of one of the most devious (but lovable) students I have.

"Mrs. Bristow, you look very beautiful today," he tells me in the most sincere way his little voice can express.

"Oh, why thank you. Aren't you so sweet?" I reply in a sincere, sing-songy tone.

Just one of the billion reasons why my job rizzocks.

And the big, free hugs at the end of the day are some icing on the cake, too.

Feeding the addiction!

As you read yesterday, I have had a hefty Craigslist addiction as of late. And I am proud to say that moments ago, I secured my very first purchase! Feast your eyes on this beautiful find:

Ta-da! Hideous, right? Well, kind of. I've spoken for the blue one on the right and will be hauling it home tomorrow after school. The thought here is to spray paint it another color -- likely black or white -- and recover the cushion. I'm not entirely sure where it will belong in our new place, but right now I'm envisioning it in our bedroom.

Which is kind of stupid, really. How often do chairs in bedrooms really get used? Or when you go on a home tour and see a ridiculously huge house with a monstrosity of a master bedroom that, for some reason, has enough room to have a couch in it -- does someone actually sit there? Maybe they do. Maybe one day when I make a bazillion dollars as a teacher, I'll build a home like that and I'll let you know about that.

But probably not.

So stay tuned to see what happens with this little jewel! But don't get too eager. Right now I only have a living and bed room (sans a couch, FYI), neither of which are conducive to re-doing [currently] hideous furniture.

How wonderful life is, now Craig[slist]'s in the world!

Hubby and I are moving into a new apartment within the next few weeks and we cannot wait! Our current space is beyond cozy, coming in around 400 square feet. Yikes! With the move, we'll acquire a garage (no scraping!), a laundry room (goodbye, quarter pumping!), a walk-through closet (peace out, crammed closet!) plus the addition of 600 more square feet!

We wanted to, naturally, move into a house. However, now's not the right time for us. So we remain apartment-bound. Regardless, my Suzy Homemaker side is dying to be unleashed, so I've been dreaming of ways to decorate our new place. One of my most favorite ideas is to take an awful, gaudy brass chandelier...

*shivers* -- so hideous.

And turn it into something fabulous like this...

I'm not sure if I'd paint it white or some other quirky color yet. I've seen other examples in a vibrant teal color, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to go quite that quirkified. I'm also not sure how it would look in an apartment setting... or at least, in our apartment setting. Obviously it's not something I want to spend a whole lot of money on, either. It's more of a fun piece. So for all the "unsures" here, I've been looking for a low-budget wonder. I've wandered MANY thrift and antique stores in and around our city and have yet to find the type of chandy I'm looking for.

Thus, I've taken a liking to Craigslist. And by "a liking", I mean "an addiction". Every hour I check for updates... does anyone have a hideous brass chandelier at a dirt cheap price yet? How about an unfortunate looking wooden bench for me to recover and make fabulous?

Success was found in the brass chandelier department earlier this evening -- for $50.00, there's a woman who has TWO of them (not that I need two, but it's what she's selling... so whatevs). Unfortunately, she's four hours away. So the search somewhat continues... unless I can get lucky enough to know someone who's heading south four hours down the interstate.

Ahhhh craigslist. How wonderful life is, now you're in the world.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder...

You know that saying, right? Let's just pretend that my blogging hiatus was simply to make you all appreciate me even more. Or we can be realists and acknowledge that I was lame for a few months and stunk at blogging.

Either way, I'm back!

And for tonight, I'm going to post a healthy recipe.

It has apples and oatmeal.

And two types of sugar.

Annnnd butter...

But it has apples and oatmeal! Fruit and fiber.

Anyway, it's delicious and it comes from my momma's kitchen, like most of the incredibly delicious things that are made in my [excruciatingly small] kitchen. And it's perfect for this time of year with the crisp, autumn-feeling weather we've been having.

My in-laws are coming this weekend to celebrate the hubby's 22nd birthday and I've been trying to con him into letting me make this yummy apple crisp instead of birthday cake. No such luck... which is fine, since it IS his birthday, after all.

So instead, I made it tonight... just because I wanted to.

Here's what you'll need for the apple filling:

• Five large apples (I used seven smallish ones instead. I don't remember what kind I used... but they were on sale for $1.29 at Hornbacher's :))
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/4 cup water

And what you'll need for the crumble topping:

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
• 1/2 cup quick oats
• 1/2 cup soft butter (one stick)

And here's whatcha do:

Get your apples. Here's one of mine:


Nice and pretty and red!

Now peel 'em and cut 'em up into random sized pieces.
Then, dump in 1/2 cup of white sugar to your apple slices...

And then your 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon...
And now for the lemon juice. Measure 1 tablespoon and dump that in, too!

And finally, add your 1/4 cup of water to the apples, too...
And then stir...
Stir...
Done!
So yummy. Don't be afraid to snitch one... or five. This is as healthy as this recipe gets, so enjoy it while it lasts!

After you're finished snitching, dump the apple mixture into a pie plate or an 8 x 8 pan. Unfortunately I haven't yet bought the super cute red pie plate I've been pining after for a few weeks now, so I'm using a boring glass one for now... womp, womp.















And next, the delicious crumbly topping...

Now for this, you can use a pastry cutter. In fact, I would recommend it. Unfortunately, I'm a fresh young pup and don't own one [yet]. However, we were gifted a nifty red food processor for our wedding that I love dearly but hardly ever have a chance to use! So now was the time to use it!

Ah yes, so pretty and red! Like everything else in our kitchen. Yes, we are a red kitchen family.

Now, measure out 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar and 3/4 cup of flour and dump it on in.

And then comes the stick o' butta! Put 'er in...

And now, one of my favorite parts: my friend, the Oatmeal man.

He makes the crumbly topping oh-so-nummy. Borrow 1/2 cup of oats from him and add it to the mix.

Go ahead and put the cover on the processor.

Ready...
PULSE!

Check out that spinnin' action. Nice!

And the finished product...

Yes, I know what you're thinking... does it not look like what you see when you open up your vacuum cleaner after you've vacuumed your living room? Minor detail, my friends, minor detail... it won't look like this for long.

So now you can dump it out onto your nummy apples in the pie plate:

(Ignore the pepper can/jar... those are used for something TBA at a later time...)

And spread it out so it's nice and even...

And put it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Or, if you're like me and have a perpetual fear of having things be "too done", set your cute flower timer for 39 minutes instead.

And then wait for the delicious smells that come next! You'll know it's done when the crumbly top is golden brown and the apple mixture beneath is bubbly and yummy looking.

Seriously delicious.

I'm kind of a picky eater and I had gone for 23 years of my life without eating this incredible concoction... and now I wonder how that was possible! I must have been crazy.


So now you can enjoy. While watching Teen Mom on MTV. At least, that's how I choose to enjoy mine :)