I am writing for the Two Writing Teachers March Writing ChallengeI always enjoy a day spent as a family. Today we three snuggled together during the way to early hours before tiptoeing out to the brightness of the living room.
Team. I’ve never really been good at teams.
The polar vortex has reach Chicagoland again this winter. It was a whopping -1* today with a windchill around -25* to -30*. School was cancelled as it is again tomorrow. What am I supposed to do besides a little kitchen maintenance? Nothing makes me feel quite as accomplished as making sure all my spice jars are filled and my seasoning blends are made.
My Dad at my wedding: this smile complete captures his personality.I have always been a Daddy’s girl. There are stories of when I was a baby when I would watch TV curled up in my dad’s arms completely content. Apparently he was the one who could get me sleep. My dad is a pretty awesome guy. He is patient, kind, and oh-so-generous. He is always willing to help his family and friends no matter what the problem. I remember him calling me when our home was flooded telling me he was standing in our living room. He was the first one in the house after the terrible flood. You could hear the compassion in his voice as he viewed the destruction.
Today was a bad day. My Aunt N told me not that long ago that the first 20 minutes of her day dictates how the rest of it will go. She likes to start her day off with the quietness of her coffee. I should have known today was going to be a sh!t show the moment I walked out the bedroom door.
SQUISH
I literally stepped in doggy poop. Damn that Zoey. She is always pooping by my shoes. I know she does it on purpose because she’s secretly hates me. After cleaning it and myself up, I went to work. My McDonald’s large-unsweetened-iced-tea-in-a-styrofoam-cup treat ended up being sweetened. There was a wasted $1.08. I subbed in another classroom–all good kids, great lesson and everything. I just wasn’t paying very close attention apparently and couldn’t find the materials left right in front of my face. Then I heard it…the ear piercing scream of one of my students. Nothing was wrong really…but for her nothing was quite right. The day just went downhill from there. As soon as one student was calmed, another went down for the count. I snapped at my fantastic classroom aide–I did apologize but it doesn’t change the fact that I did it. She stepped up and took the reigns while I had a small breakdown–God bless her. At one point after a loud tussle, I literally stayed on the floor of my classroom and let a few tears fall for just a moment.
After school I stopped by J’s house. I tutored J for about 2 years–up until my mom got sick and I took some time off. I heard he had been doing such a great job at reading that I arranged with his family to spend a little time with him. WOW! What a great kid. To think how far he has come in just a couple years makes me so proud of him and his family.
I had told my Thursday buddy that I wasn’t up to stopping by today. I was just too beat. Then she left me a message encouraging me to just call her to talk. I stopped by anyway and was so happy that I did. She listened with out judging, gave advice without being preachy, and reassured me that things will get better. Then she said something that just stuck. FIND THE JOY. EVERYDAY. That’s it. It’s the only thing you can do. If everything else is out of your control all you can do is find the joy…at least a little slice of it. I drove home thinking what f-ing joy was there to find today? Then I remembered dear, sweet J reading to me. He read me the riveting Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss. For those 10 minutes, I forgot about my bad day. I didn’t think of screaming kids or doggy doo-doo. I reveled in the pure joy of a child reading a book to me for the very first time…a REALLY REAL book. He was so proud. I was so proud. Even though my visit only last 15 minutes, it really changed my outlook on the entire day. I wouldn’t have realized it without my buddy reminding me to FIND THE JOY. Thank you C. And thank you J. And I’m sorry JBE. I promise to try better tomorrow to check my crankiness at the door. Tomorrow will be a better day and I will actively LOOK for the JOY all throughout.
I had big plans to make my mom’s delicious Vegetable Beef Soup. It’s really more of a stoup–that is the way Rachael Ray would describe it anyway. It’s thicker than a soup but thinner than a stew. It’s everything you would expect from a hearty one pot meal. It has large pieces of beef, tomatoes, mixed vegetables, barley…and lots of love. I always thought that this recipe was fairly complicated. About a month before my mom’s second surgery, she taught me this soup, which had quickly become my husband’s favorite meal and he requested that I learned it immediately. He loved the tender beef chunks and jokingly even called it beef chunk soup. Just the glimpse of the beef stew meat package got him excited for the night he would come home to this lovely one pot wonder bubbling away on the stovetop. I had big plans, but then life got in the way.
I was asked by some of my Lisle Floodies to attend a Village Board Meeting. Lots of discussion about storm water ordinance changes was supposed to be on the agenda. It ended up being removed but t was nice to get together with the girls and get caught up anyway. I realized I had been neglecting my previous interest in local government–I need to try to get to more meetings. Needless to say, dinner for my husband consisted of some leftovers. I’ll be making this soup tomorrow. I’m sure memories of dinner at the kitchen table in the Ridgeway house will fill my head and heart at first bite. But until then…NO SOUP FOR YOU!
Mom’s Vegetable Beef Barley Soup
1½-2 pounds beef stew meat (trimmed and cut into bite size pieces)
2-32 ounce containers of beef broth
2-15 ounce cans mixed vegetables (drained)
1-14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes (NOT drained)
5 ounces of Quaker Medium Pearled Barley
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
Karyn In The Kitchen 