If you want recipes. . .

We've been talking about it for ages. Maybe we were waiting to see if this whole "Cooking Club" was gonna stick. Well, it has been two years and we are still going strong. So we started a blog. Want to find out what crazy themes we have come up with now? (Next theme is "Make it More Joyful (update or improve a recipe from the Joy of Cooking)"). Want to see some recipes from past themes (I already posted from "Cooking with Alcohol"). Want to hear about the crazy things we talk about (Cindy and her Space Monkeys!). Want to see who cooking club really is (there's pictures!). All of that is now available. . .yeah cooking club!

How did I piss off the weather gods?

I have this theory. . . weather in Colorado and Wyoming is controlled by our own weather gods. I think that these gods take the form of gossipy teenage girls (not unlike the one's I deal with in the middle and high schools I work in). They are affected by the trends of the day. They are very finnicky and change their minds at a moment's notice. Most characteristic of the teenage girl- they do things on a whim, often apparently just to piss you off.




This weekend, the weather gods were not smiling on me and my dad as we tried to enjoy the last weekend of summer with a camping trip to the mountains just across the Wyoming border. The drive up on Saturday was lovely. . . we had blue skies with pretty white clouds. We set up camp and everything seemed peachy. Then in the middle of the night it started to rain. It rained all day on Sunday, basically ruining our plans to hike (although the clouds broke just enough for us to drive around and see the mountains a bit.) It looked like it might clear up on Monday morning. . . then the clouds came back and (in true first day of fall fashion) it started to snow. We packed up camp and made a hasty retreat, deciding that being cold and wet was just not that much fun anymore. Not exactly the best camping trip ever- but I spent some good quality time with my dad, so that's ok. And next time I'll check the weather report, not that that will probably make any difference (spiteful and pernickety weather gods we have here!)

bad tv and weekend plans

Why would they cancel a great show like Veronica Mars in favor of the putrid swill that is Gossip Girl? I have no good answer for that. . . except that the fact that since I am deprived of good tv, I watch the bad tv anyway.

Anyway, my plans for the weekend: big Flobots show on Friday(several of my constant musical crushes) all those in Denver should attend. Seriously. And then camping in Wyoming with my dad.

BFF with music

Hi, my name is Becca and I'm a musicianaholic.

I was thinking about the trends of my love life lately and I have discovered a very disturbing thing: I am addicted to musicians. A survey of my most recent boyfriends and crushes proves that Becca prefers musicians to all others by a more than 2 to 1 basis. In fact all of Becca's most serious boyfriends were musicians and the only recent crush that Becca has had that was not a musician was in fact an actor (who sometimes sings on stage) and so that almost counts. I will stop talking about myself in the third person now.

I don't really know what it is about the musicians that I love so much- it is not the rock star thing, none of them are famous (yet). It does have something to do with performance, but I needn't have heard them perform to be in love with them (although it helps). Maybe it is the intensity of musicians (and other artists) that I love. Maybe it is just that they are really good looking. Really good looking and talented- deadly combination.

Knowing that I have a problem is the first step on the road to recovery. Wait. Screw that, I like musicians and there is nothing that will change that!

Anyway, my latest musical crush is this guy. Not only is he an amazing singer/songwriter/guitarist, he also has amazing curly hair. And it turns out that we were destined to be best friends. Let me explain. Rob came up to camp a few weeks ago to perform with the flobots in a Sacred Slam. It was an amazing night full of music and poetry and magic. Before the show, I started to talk to Rob. I knew that I had seen him around several times in the past few months- it turns out that we have a lot of mutual friends. In addition to the flobots (MacKenzie actually played on his latest album), he knows people at Buntport and a ton of my friends, like he went to high school with one of my good friends. But I was sure that I knew him from somewhere else. It turns out that we almost worked together at a movie theatre in high school. He stopped working at the theatre at about the same time that I started. I continued to work there for five years, he went on to be a fabulous musician. It was destiny. BFF. That's what we are now. Who can argue with destiny. I know that I don't intend to.

End of summer-joys of subbing

Well, even though the season doesn't officially end until the 21st, I think that summer is pretty much done for me. Part of me is glad that the crazy summer is coming to an end. I feel as if I am still trying to catch up on sleep. I do have a lot to do over the next few months (getting ready for Peace Corps and all) but I don't have a lot of responsibility when it comes to work and that is weird. I'm a (just a little) over achiever, so without work to do, I have been volunteering a lot. Anyway, today was the first day that really felt like fall- I had to wear a sweat shirt when I came into school and the building was not as unbearably hot as it has been the past few weeks.

I am subbing now. . . oh the joys of being a fake teacher. Here is what I like about being a substitute teacher:

1) I get to read a lot- most teachers leave pretty simple things for me to do, often there is a movie or some sort of work sheet involved. I also get to read (or do my own thing) during planning periods and lunch.

2) I mostly sub at DCIS- so far this semester I have only been at one school, DCIS, which is great for so many reasons. I know most of the kids, so I don't get that "you are just a sub and we can do whatever we want" type attitude. I can also be relatively sure that I will have a fairly clear lesson plan and something to actually do, rather than the normal "let's watch a nature movie that has nothing to do with what these kids are learning" type lesson. Even with those good points, I still get the occasional little shits that bug me and don't do anything that I ask. I have a feeling that this is how they act for their regular teachers though, so I don't worry about it too much.

3) If I am every feeling crappy, tired or just plain lazy I can turn down a job. I can also turn down jobs from schools I don't like, teachers I don't like or in subjects I don't like. I have to be careful to sub a certain amount of days a week to make enough money for rent (which is the point, after all) but other than that, I can just say no.

4)I have no responsibilities at the end of the day. After I sign my daily report and leave the building, that's it. I have no homework or papers to grade, no lesson plans to make, no parents to call. That means that I can go home and watch TV, go to movies, go to cooking club/majong/concerts etc. with little or no guilt about what I SHOULD be doing instead.

5) I can be the NICE sub. We all remember that sub. The one you were happy to get because they were actually a better teacher than your regular teacher and they were always nice to you. I try not to be the mean sub. Or the crying sub. I'm the young sub, which I usually liked better than the old sub. It's funny how many times the kids tell me "I like you better than so and so." I don't take it too seriously (just like I don't take kids telling me I'm mean too seriously) but it is kind of funny.

Highlight for the day: three of the seventh graders that I know from last year told me that when I go into the Peace Corps they want to come and visit me. . . but since the tickets will be really expensive they will only buy one ticket and the other two will stow away in her suitcase. Cute.