Three Simple Pleasures: Classroom Video, Popcorn Bars, Background Noise and a Keeper from the Recipe Box

1. Part of the requirement for earning my National Board Certification is to have two videotapes of my teaching  submitted in my portfolio. Thursday my friend SueDean did an excellent job taping a whole group discussion on The Outsiders with my eighth grade students. The students responded well in the discussion and no big catastrophes happened.

2. Last Sunday Rella brought Popcorn Bars to church for coffee hour. Everyone went nuts over them. I was so pleased when she sent out the recipe this week. It is actually Popcorn Cake that I guess has been around for a long time, but she made them into bars.  With the combination I used today they look very yummy and were the easiest thing to make. See recipe below.

3. It was a busy day as I did holiday baking, but it was made more enjoyable with nonstop Christmas music most of the day on the television, then having the Zags basketball game come on at the end of my baking day. They won also!

Popcorn Bars

Make 4 quarts of popcorn. I made two bags of microwave popcorn.

Heat until melted. Cool 1 minute.
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 lb. bag of marshmallows

Combine the popcorn and the melted marshmallow mixture.
Add two cups trail mix. ( I sent JEJ to the store and he brought back a great trail mix of almonds, dried fruit, chocolate stars. and other nuts)
You can add what you want. I had a small amount of dried cherries and threw them in. I put peanuts on the top.

Mix all together and press into greased 9x13 pan. Let stand one hour and remove carefully. This can also be pressed into a bundt or angel food cake pan.  Enjoy!

Three Simple Pleasures: Early December Sunset, Beauty at Barnaby Island, Peaceful Setting at French Rock

1. Today I was pleased I had the camera when I drove along between Inchelium and home close to a very early sunset. The sky close to Inchelium was lovely.

2. Stopping at Barnaby Campground gave me an opportunity to catch Barnaby Island in a different season and at a different time. It was beautiful.

3. A stop at French Rock Boat Launch reminded me how peaceful the lake can be this time of year.

Peaceful Winter Beauty

Three Simple Pleasures: Water, Candy Canes, Time With Bonnie

1. Today when we lost water again in our building at school I was relieved we were only without restrooms for about three hours. It wasn't as disruptive this time.

2. We enjoyed Bob's Mini Candy Canes while watching the first part of "A Christmas Carol" in class today. I loved it when AR put the cane in his mouth and exclaimed, " I love candy canes. They taste just like Christmas!"

3. It was my December time with my hair stylist Bonnie this afternoon. The time flies when I get my color and cut as we share stories about our former lives in the Tri-Cities and have conversations about the state of affairs in the world.  Many world issues can be resolved sipping a Peppermint Mocha while waiting for your hair to process!

Three Simple Pleasures: Bah! Humbug! Stay Gold, Earthquakes

1. Every year during December I teach an adapted play of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol to my seventh grade class. It is such a good vehicle for teaching character analysis and helps students understand how actions dictate what becomes of a person as they grow older.  When we start the unit many students say "Bah! Humbug!", but as we get closer to the end I hear more "And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!" I love that.

2. I am doing a study of the novel The Outsiders with my 8th grade class. Students love the book for the action, characters they can relate to, and that the author is someone close to their age.  There is a moment when deep understanding occurs as we discuss the ending of the book. I know students get it when you hear voices around the room repeating the quote, "Stay Gold Ponyboy, Stay Gold!"

3. I work with a group of high school students in a Learning Lab at the end of the day.  Recently I have been teaming with the science teacher in supporting the learning of a unit on earthquakes. I have loved digging into the  content which I haven't studied in a long time. As I learned vocabulary alongside my students today I realized I might be able to pass the chapter test next week!

Three Simple Pleasures: Grocery Store Sales, Pizza and Beer, Comforter

1. Today we did the monthly shopping trip to the grocery stores. In December that also includes "the baking list" and I loved finding ingredients like butter, cream cheese, and coconut on sale. I was also pleased the stores were a bit quieter when I was shopping.

2. JEJ dropped me off at my second store and headed to Papa Murphy's to pick up a fresh pizza. After driving to town, shopping, making the trip home again, unloading the car and putting everything away a meal consisting of Hawaiian Pizza hot from the oven and a Rolling Rock Beer cold out of the back of the car was a perfect combo for a late supper.

3. A box arrived from UPS today containing a new comforter just in time for another very cold night in northeastern Washington. JEJ stoked up the fires and we are keeping them burning long into the night.