All Things Mimi

My supervising teacher has been out all week. Normally, under such circumstances, I would be running around like a crazy woman, trying to control all things at all times, making life pretty easy for the sub.

This time around, however, I have taken an uncharacteristically laid back approach. I figure, the sub is getting paid to sub, so I should let her. I have, however, been having to write lesson plans, which I definitely didn't sign up for. I hate writing lesson plans.

I was wasting time on the internet this morning before school started, and found an interesting photo essay. Some guy took pictures of a bunch of people and their favorite breakfasts. I had to wonder how many of those people lied and had something healthier than they would normally eat. I could tell some people were brutally honest- like the ones with slices of pizza, or donuts, or just cups of coffee.

This all made me start thinking of my favorite breakfast. The only problem is, I don't have one favorit…

I took another step today as an emerging food blogger....

I just wrote a post on my food blog about getting something published on one of my favorite foodblogs. So go on over to my other blog and check it out!

Today was the annual Pinewood Derby for Dev's BoyScout Pack. I went along to take pics and check it out. I'd never been to one before.

It was pretty interesting. The cars were cute. However, overall, the parents seemed to care way more about the outcome of the races than the kids did.

Anyway- here are some of the pics I took. I may enter a car next year......

I am a dip person- my whole life. As a child, I remember my mom making that old onion dip recipe where you just dump the package of Lipton's Onion Soup Mix into a carton of sour cream. It never lasted more than a day at our house. I also remember a trip to Charlotte a few years back...Di and I had gone there to visit her sister, Suzanne. That Saturday night, we decided we were going to spend our evening eating our favorite junk food, drinking red wine and doing puzzles. My choices included a tub of Dean's french onion dip and a bag of potato chips. Other choices included fritos and chocolate covered graham crackers. I was not allowed to choose the wine, because I am not especially good at it. I, apparently, have taste for crap when it comes to wine. Anyway- we went home with our junk food treasures, drank a bunch of red wine, and completed a Chipendale's puzzle. There's a whole other story in there. After we were all rather buzzed, we couldn't get the chest pieces …

Every Friday my morning class does Show and Tell.

This morning, one of my little girls brought something special for Show and Tell....(I swear I don't make this stuff up).....

A box of cats.

A box of live cats.

A box of live, unhappy cats.

Guess what happens when you take the lid off a box of live cats....

The cats exit the box in different directions at a rapid rate of speed.

Guess what happens with the above mentioned cats realize that they've jumped out of the relatively safe (albeit slightly cramped) box into a room full of 5 and 6 year olds.....

They freak out.

We managed to control them enough for little girlie to describe and name them. And her parents were there to whisk the box away as soon as she was done with Show and Tell (needless to say she went first).

That, my friends, was the kick off to my Friday.

I am happy to report that Daniel Alexander Leeds entered this world this morning around 8:30ish after spending 9 months in the womb of one of my bestest friends in the whole world, Lizard (actually, her name is Lisanne, but I like Lizard better).

Daniel is a miracle baby, as Lizard and her hubby J had been told that children were pretty much out of the question for them. Goes to show you, huh?
He weighed in at about 8 1/2 pounds and was 20 inches long.

I haven't quite wrapped my mind around the fact that Lizard is a mom. I can't believe we are old enough to have kids (I will forever picture us as high school girls, giggling and driving to Duran Duran concerts).

But I know she will be a great mom, and Daniel will be a really cool kid. How can he go wrong with Lizard for a mom and me for a crazie Auntie Mimi??

I will post pics (with Lizard's permission, of course) as soon as I get them.

So I am in technically the 3rd week of yoga. And to be honest, things are getting a bit easier. I'm still a bit balance-challenged...and some of the stuff kills my knees....but I'm breathing better and I can tell a slight improvement in my flexibility.

This week was especially nice, as we finished our session with a somewhat meditative stretch. The only difficulty I experienced was brought about by the image our instructor asked us to call up during our relaxation stretching. She asked us to think of our favorite ice cream. Then she asked us to think about toppings, bowls, spoons, etc. Why is this problematic, you might ask? Well, I have noticed that during yoga (more specifically while I'm holding some uncomfortable position) I begin to think of, and therefore to crave foods that are horrible for me. For example, last week I could not get fried chicken and chili cheese fries out of my brain. Why do I do this?? Fried chicken and chili cheese fries would work agai…

So young. so talented and so beautiful. It was too soon for you to go.

San Luis Valley Pizza Company, originally uploaded by All Things Mimi. So the local rumor mill has yet again been churning. The subject of the latest round? The San Luis Valley Pizza Company. It is located right next to the ABC Pro Bowl here in Alamosa. At first, the location scared me, because the last pizza place to be there was awful. It was a pizza buffet and it had the worst pizza I had EVER had- cardboard crust, skimpy toppings, slow pizza turnover under the heat lamp, blah, blah, blah.
But the skuttlebutt I heard on the street made me change my mind. I heard, from various sources, that the wonderful chef over at Milagro's (I hate that I can't remember his name. I want to say it's Randall, but that could be wrong. I'll ask next time we go) was leaving to join his family in a new restaurant.
This- while probably bad news for Milagro's- is good news for the new pizza place.So....after Dev and I got back in town this afternoon after a weekend of snowshoeing and …

Dev and I are headed to Montrose for the weekend- so you probably won't here much from me until Monday night!
Hope everyone has a great extra long weekend and stays out of trouble.....

IMG_0913, originally uploaded by All Things Mimi. This has been on our doorstep since we got home from Georgia.

I have a particular soft spot for Maine Coons, and this is a beautiful one. I think she is still pretty young, although she is not a kitten. She has some digestive issues- mostly because she is eating out of garbage cans- but other than that, she looks pretty healthy. Considering the fact that it has been below zero here every night since we got back, she must have somewhere sheltered to sleep. Her name should be icicle, cuz that's what she is.

Dev and I have considered adopting her- in spite of a lease that stipulates no pets- but we just aren't ready for the responsibility (or the litter box).

If you live in the Alamosa area and you would like to adopt this cat- feel free to leave a comment. I haven't seen her around today- but I'm pretty sure she'll be back.

So today has been a weird day. I got to school just before 7:30 and immediately began cutting up the veggies fortoday's "Green Foods" lesson. I was using an incredibly dull, useless knife to cut 2 limes into 10 wedges each (difficult to do even with a good knife), cut 2 cucumbers into 20 lengths and quarter 5 apples. The bell rang for the kids to pile in at 8:10. At about 8:15, the office called to pull me from the classroom to administer standardized testing. That meant no green foods lesson, cuz I wouldn't be in the room. So- all green veggies went back in the fridge and I reported to the office. It didn't seem to matter to anyone that I had never administered this particular test (or at least not the whole thing), and it is done using a palm pilot (so there is a techy part to it). I just watched someone do it once and jumped in to do my best. The rest of the school day continued on that rather harried path. There was no recess because of the weather, so…

IMG_0909, originally uploaded by All Things Mimi. So this weekend was pretty low-key.

Friday we had movie night with Tonya, Shane and Sarah. You can check the flickr page to see the pics.
The movie was "Reign On Me." It was really good. One of Adam Sandler's best, in my opinion. Dinner was home made pizza.
Saturday, we did a little grocery shopping, checked out the local ice skating rink, took a long afternoon nap, then ate lasagna and watched "Raiders of the Lost Ark." A fine evening, indeed.
Today we went to church, and now we are watching "Ghostbuster" and contemplating lunch.
Maybe I'll post again later, if I get rid of this headache.

...during my first yoga class.

Those of you who know me well are unable to breath right now because you are laughing so hard. But yes, I really did begin a yoga class today.

1. This isn't really something I learned about myself, as much as it is something I learned about yoga in general. Yoga is not easy for chics with plentiful boobage. Seriously, they were in the way the whole time.

2. I have been a fat, sedentary person for too long. I used to run. I used to exercise regularly. But I haven't done any of that in about 5 years. Although I will never be obsessed by exercise, I would like to at least be able to touch my toes without cutting off the circulation to my brain.

3. I used to be able to breathe. I can't anymore. When I was in college, taking voice lessons and singing 5 days a week, I could breathe. I had no trouble with posture. Sitting up straight, legs uncrossed and breathing deeply were second nature to me. Trying to breathe correctly today during my yoga workout w…

IMG_0802, originally uploaded by All Things Mimi. The day after Christmas, Dev, Di, Tater Tot and I drove around downtown Savannah to get some pics for a friend of mine back here in Colorado who is planning to travel to Savannah next year. We ate lunch at Spanky's on the river (best chicken fingers in the UNIVERSE).
Later that night we went back to Di's so we could do our Christmas and eat lots of really good seafood. Click on the pic at the top of this post to see all the merriment.
A good time was had by all.

IMG_0765, originally uploaded by All Things Mimi. Christmas morning started with a "light" breakfast (I use the term light VERY loosely).
In the early afternoon, my sister and her husband and kids came over to exchange gifts and take some pictures before we all loaded up and went to my grandfather's house for Christmas dinner.
Dinner included a ham, a turkey, greens, steamed veggies, oyster dressing, sweet potato casserole, corn casserole and black forest tart.
I got to see lots of family and we all at until we were sick. Later that night Dev and I played cards with my parents, then passed out in a food coma.

My Christmas Eve Day began with a wonderful lunch at Sushi Time Towa. I have blogged about this already. But I love that pic, so I posted it again.

Later in the evening, Mom, Dev and I went to church for the Christmas Eve service. I got to see lots of old friends, and I'm very glad we went.

After church, the baking began. Mom shared the family pound cake recipe with me, and my sister Cindy came over to make some cookies. We stayed up way too late, but everything came out wonderfully and we had a blast cooking together.

IMG_0721, originally uploaded by All Things Mimi. On our first official day home, we grabbed mom, threw her in the car and headed out to drive around and take some pics. I shot this bird (no clue what he is) with the telephoto lens. He was hanging out in the marsh between Bethesda and Skidaway Island.
Other than driving around taking pics, we stayed close to home, recovering from our travel and eating our fool heads off.

We left Alamosa at 8:30am Saturday morning, December 22nd.

Our flight from Alamosa to Denver was fine. We had a long layover in Denver so there was plenty of time to crawl around the concourses and soak in the atmosphere. We noticed there were many people travelling with dogs. Why do people do that? Do they not have friends willing to come over and feed the dog for a week? Unless I was moving permanently, I just don't think I'd do that.
Our flight from Denver to Dallas was delayed about an hour. When we got to Dallas we thought we had missed our connecting flight to Savannah. Luckily, that flight had also been delayed, so after a long wait, we were finally on our way home!
We got to Savannah around 10:30pm. Mom, Cindy and Taylor came to greet us at the airport and they were a sight for sore eyes! I didn't even recognize Taylor- she's grown up so much over the last year.

We walked through the door and Dad had roasted chicken and green beans waiting for us on the…

IMG_0756, originally uploaded by All Things Mimi. I just returned from my first visit home in over a year.

It would be impossible to recount every detail of my visit (btw- next time I will take a laptop so I can post while I'm gone). The visit flew by and I had a great time.

Seeing my family and friends made this Christmas so very special. My mother shared her pound cake recipes with me and I made cookies with my sister. I breaded shrimp and roasted oysters with Diane and drank a few beers with Suz. I even got a chance to go to lunch with some former students.

There are only 2 things I would change about the trip. First- I would add a few more days so I could see everyone. I missed some very important and special people. Second- I would not indulge in the abundance of food so much right off the bat, so I wouldn't get sick and lose a day and a half of my trip.

I will try to pick one photo from each day of the trip so I can at least outline some of my memories.