Mississippi Mud Pie... aka... Jamocha Almond Fudge

So my sweet husband celebrated a birthday this week... For sake of privacy I won't DARE mention how old he turned... BUT I don't mind letting you know that I am most definitely younger of the two of us (he practically robbed the cradle) I won't tell you his REAL age...but just rest assured that had we dated when we were in elementary - well that would have been down right gross. Anyways I digress...

So being the wonderful wife that I am, I asked Mat what kind of birthday cake he would like this year. This is how the conversation went:

Me: So sweetie, what kind of birthday cake would you like me to bake for you?

Mat: Hmmmmm... I Know! Jamocha Almond Fudge!! My mom use to make it all the time!

Me: (Inner Monologue)...WTF is jamocha almond fudge? I've never seen that on a Duncan Hines box...Isn't "Jamocha" a shake from Arby's? What kind of mess is he getting me into? (out loud) Sounds delicious sweetie!! I will email your mom for the recipe. Can you tell me a little bit a bout it? I've never heard of such a thing...

Mat: Well, its the best thing on earth... First you take crushed oreos and mix with melted butter.... and then you take chocolate ice cream...

Me: (Interrupting) You mean Mississippi Mud Pie?!!! That's what I've made you every year for your birthday since we've been together! (5+ years!)

Oh my sweet husband...No idea where he got the name, but regardless, it is an amazingly tasty treat that you will be sure to love! (Its worth any extra runs or workouts you need to do to consume its calories!) This recipe is straight from my mother-in-law and she is a fantastic cook. I have found that any recipe she uses, I always end up loving!

Mississippi Mud Pie aka Jamocha Almond Fudge

25-30 Oreos

1/4 c margarine

1/2 gallon chocolate ice cream

1 qt ice cream (any flavor - I used Java Chip)

1 sm pack sliced almonds

1T margarine

3/4 c chocolate chips

3T evaporated milk

1. Crush cookies with icing (I use a gallon freezer bag and a rolling pin). Melt 1/4 c margarine and mix. Press into the bottom of a 9 X 13 pan.

2. Spread 1/2 gallon of softened chocolate ice cream over cookies. Freeze until firm. Repeat with the rest of the chocolate ice cream. Refreeze.

3. Spread the softened flavored ice cream of the chocolate ice cream.

4. Combine almonds and 1T marg until margarine is melted and brown under broiler

6. Sprinkle almonds over the ice cream.

7. Melt chocolate chips with 3T evaporated milkd. Drizzle over top. Return to freezer.

8. Remove from freezer 15-20 minutes before serving

9. ENJOY!!!

How Stella Got her Groove Back...

So its the time of year again. Time to head back to school... to all my little darlings that I haven't seen in a few months.

To lesson plans,

staff meetings,

caseload management,

parent - teacher conferences,

state testing

snotty noses,

grimy hands,

smiling faces and

the world's best hugs.

Usually I can't wait to get back into the swing of things. I love buying new school supplies - especial brightly colored post-its & sharpie pens. (I'm somewhat addicted to both - somehow mixing the two colors when jotting notes puts a smile on my face - weird I know.) This year has been different. I am having a really hard time heading back to school. While I AM excited to see my little ones and I absolutely love my new classroom - WITH technology! I just can't get into the groove of things. People keep telling me I look tired, or asking if everything is ok. And it is. It really is - I just can't get my groove back (Not exactly like Stella in How Stella Got her Groove Back -one of my all time fav's-but not so far off. Although maybe a tropical vacation is what I'm needing right about now. **HINT HINT MAT if you are reading this**!) Anyways, it has been a daily task of working on my attitude & realizing that the only thing you can control is your response - not a given situation. Which I have pretty much failed at miserably. (Hey, just being honest) Anyways ....

My kiddos started Thursday and that has helped. I can't help but share a few funny stories from the first day that have really helped put the smile back on my face and the bounce back in my step. In order for these stories to be funny, its important to know that I teach ELL (English Language Learners) We have a large, very diverse population. I have about 140 students from all over the world. LITERALLY. I work with basically the same students year after year - so they really do become my little darlings - I watch them grow up (at least during their elementary years). I start to feel like a mamacita to most of them as I not only teach them English but about life in general.

First day of school. Bus duty. (I have 45 minutes of bus duty - am & pm - a day. Jealous, aren't you?!) My kiddos' bus pulls up to school bright and early. There I am, Mrs. Good, ready to meet my little one's as they get off the bus. I welcome them to their first day and give explicit instructions, "Good morning friends! Great to see all of your sweet smiling faces! If you know who your teacher is, you can head on in the building and have a wonderful day. If not, line up with me and I will look up your teacher on my list." The ENTIRE bus lined up with me! I am not kidding. (Duh!! These are the kids that don't ever come to Back to School night! How would they know?!) So I proceeded to drop 40 kids off one - by-one to their classrooms and wish them the happiest of first days=) Teachers were laughing at me, calling me a Mama Duck, walking her ducklings down the hall. Put a smile in my heart! I love my kiddos!

10:00 that morning. I am working on our caseload and in walks the secretary frantically needing me to go translate (We don't have phones set up yet AND our translator has been cut to 1/2 time. Yikes.) So I rushed down the hall to go translate for a teacher, hoping everything is okay. Now you should know I speak Spanish. I don't speak French, Dutch, Dinka, Arabic, Swahili, Thai or any other of our 20 languages at my school. I arrive to find one of our sweetest teachers desperately trying to find out how one of our students from the Congo (who speaks NO English) is getting home that day. Hmmm...Not sure how I am going to help this situation. I gently ask how I can be of service. You know where this is going. Yeah - I wasn't much help... But our little friend did get home okay (that day)

So here we are, another school year. My eighth year of teaching. (ouch I feel OLD) I am hoping for another wonderful year, in what I consider (most of the time) the best profession in the world. Perhaps I need to rent me some Stella this afternoon and help my groove out a little bit...

Hope all you fellow teachers out there have a great year as well! Here are some pictures of the cute little faces I get to see every day...

Saving Second Base

Saving Second Base. Friends of Boobies. Pam's Posse. Stupid Boobies. All of these teams plus about 30,000 other racers joined our team, Denise's Darlings, for the Race for the Cure on Sunday. We had a wonderful time running for a wonderful cause. A group of friends and I formed the team Denise's Darlings for a dear friends mom - who is a breast cancer survivor. Denise is a beautiful lady who puts a huge smile on your face in just moments of being around her. I was completely reminded of what an amazing cause Race for the Cure is and how cool it is to use your favorite hobby to support a charity. (I also got a priority check in the process.)

So thanks to 30,000 runners trying to get to the exact same exit on I-35, I showed up 25 minutes past our team's meeting time and 5 minutes until race time. This type of thing drives my little type A mind insane. I was fidgeting, texting, singing, chugging coconut water, checking facebook (the car WASN'T moving) all while sitting still on the highway that morning. By the time we parked in the North 40 and headed to the Starbucks tent, I barely had time for a quick pic (there is ALWAYS time for a cute photo op) before hustling to the starting line - which by the way was "by the pink balloons..." Ha! There was only as many balloons as participants. So Tim, Kristen & I followed the crowd to what had to be the starting point, wiggled our way in and we were ready... just as the gun went off.

So I tend to get a little competitive in situations like this. I waved good bye to the Tim & Kristen and hit the road. It was a hilly course and a HOT morning. Somehow in the sea of pink shirts (WHY oh WHY did we decided to buy cute pink shirts for this race? Next year - BROWN shirts people!) I found myself dodging other runners, getting a little frustrated at the crowded streets and trying to get to the head of the pack. (Who am I kidding?! I'm not Kenyan.) I cruise along, find my friend Autumn, who's running kicks my butt, but decided I should try to keep up. Well I am pretty sure I slowed her down, but she wouldn't let me lag behind. We ended up finishing together and had a decent finish.

SO somewhere along the end I realized I had missed the entire point. The POINT of Race for the Cure isn't setting a PR (for some it might well be & that's okay) The POINT of race for the cure is celebrating an amazing cause. It's celebrating what it means to be a woman and joining forces with women everywhere to call attention breast cancer - an incredibly scary monster. It's enjoying the entire course - the signs, balloons, shirts, cheers, bands - the ENTIRE celebration. I think it hit me in the face when I saw a woman finish in her wheel chair with a big sign that said, "I just finished my 2nd Chemo". Yeah. I missed the point. This woman was thrilled to be there. To be hot, sweaty, thirsty & creeping across the finish line. And here I had been

complaining about the lack of organization, warm bottles of water, crowded parking spots and the hilly course.

Next year I will do it again. I hope the crazy competitive runner stays at home in bed and the runner who gets teary eyed with emotion joins me next year=) When all was said and done it was a beautiful morning... We had a great time with friends AND I got my priorities in check=)

Runnin' Thoughts...

I have self-diagnosed ADD. Somehow I fooled my teachers in school, or maybe it developed later in life I don't know. But I have it. (Trust me - I'm a teacher - half my student's have it so I am practically an expert.) Anyone who has conversations with me, must walk away with their head spinning from all the random topics I bring up. This was made incredibly clear to me as I was on my run this morning. Just to set the stage - you should know that it was IDEAL running weather...Cool, rainy, cloudy, just beautiful outside. I headed out on a 9 mile run by myself...it was a cleanse for my mind. This week has been kind of a weird week for me...so my thoughts & emotions started in one direction and ended up in about 1000 tangents. By the time I was finished with my run my body was invigorated and my endorphins elevated, but my brain was drained from running sprints between ideas... So let me just share a FEW of them with you:

1. Socialized Health Care freaks me out. Yep I voted for Obama - but I don't think a man who a Dr. 20 steps behind him all day should be making decisions for OUR health care! It FREAKS me out that if I found a lump in my breast I would have to wait a few months before I could have any tests run! SERIOUSLY!!! (Vote NO people!!!)

2. I'm glad running helps prevent cancer. I need to buy a running ID thing. If I would have been hit by a car this morning and was not responsive -they would have NO idea who I am or who to call. Yikes. Anyone recommend one?

3. My ipod playlist needs a makeover. Why did I put so many slow songs on "Bethany's running music"?

4. My favorite music will always include Counting Crows & Cross Canadian.

5. I don't like bikers. I really don't. This was not a news flash to me - just reiterated in my brain. Is biking so physically exhausting that when a runner says, "good morning", you are unable to smile, wave, nod, say hi or acknowledge them in any form? AND I don't like your little biking king - Lance....puke. (ok - so I really do get ANGRY at them - I actually cussed one out one morning because they ran lindsay & I off the road-no joke!; AND they have that stupid table at the Moose every Thursday night and show up in their icky yellow spandex - really boys - we DON'T need to see it)

6. Runners really do come in every size, shape & color. They are consistently so much friendlier than bikers.

7. If I didn't run, I think I would need a therapist. Good thing I run -its a heck of a lot cheaper. If socialized health care passes and I can't run anymore - it might take me YEARS to get into see a therapist.

8. I don't want summer break to ever end. I really don't want to go back to school, but I am excited about wearing my new black pants that I bought at the Gap for $12. Thanks for the F&F coupon Cori! And when am I going to talk to Cori? Maybe my plan time can coincide with the boy's nap time...

9. Speaking of Cori.... I wonder if she is done with her race yet? Probably - she's fast. I am so proud of her for doing a race... I just wish I could have been in Tulsa this weekend to run it with her. Maybe she would like to run the KC half with me in October? Hmmm... I call her later.

10. People who talk on cell phones while running just don't get it.

11. There is an unwritten code of running etiquette ... so why don't more people adhere to it? Is it really hard to move over when a runner is coming towards you and has a rock wall on the other side - giving them no-where to step out of your way? Must be undercover bikers.

12. I really want to paint the brick around my fireplace... I wonder how long it would take Mat to notice? It would look so much better.

Ridiculous, right...This is just a sample of what my brain was thinking about this morning. Its a good thing I run and can get all my thoughts out... I think I would drive Mat nuts at the end of the day with all this craziness...