First Day of School

Homeschooling officially begins today!

4th Grade

Crispy Eggplant with Spicy Marinara and Feta

Ingredients
1 eggplant, about 1 lb, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 eggs
2 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1 tsp dry basil
2 cups marinara
1 cup feta cheese

Directions
1.  Mix milk and eggs in a small bowl.  Mix wheat germ, parmesan cheese, basil, and pepper in a second bowl.
2.  Dip eggplant slices in egg mixture, then coat both sides in the wheat germ mixture. 
3.  Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Eggplant should be crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
4.  Add red pepper to the marinara and warm over low medium heat.
5.  Top eggplant with marinara and feta cheese.

Makes 4 servings.

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Vegetarian Cooking for Today (1993).

Happy Birthday, Kaelin!

Today's Kaelin's birthday, and since I've never posted her birth story...  Well, here it is!  

August 2, 2001

I woke up this morning with really bad cramps.  It was 2:00 AM and everyone else was still asleep.  I didn't want to wake anyone up if I wasn't in labor, but after I got up and started walking around, the pain got worse.  I woke Grandma up, and she said that she thought I was having a baby!  The cramps hurt so bad that I laid in bed with Poopie and cried.  At 4:00, we called the hospital and Dr. Duda said to go ahead and come in even though she doubted that I was really in labor.

On the way to the hospital, Dad and I were stopped by a train.  Then, the main hospital doors were locked!  We walked around the building for half an hour looking for an entrance. 

After I was admitted, things went slow at first.  The nurses kept asking me questions while I was having contractions and got annoyed with me when I couldn't answer.  All I wanted to do was to curl up in a ball, but they wouldn't let me because of all of the straps.  They finally gave me a shot of Demerol and I went back to sleep until I was able to get an epidural. 

Once the epidural was in place, I went from 4 to 10 cm in 45 minutes!  After an hour of pushing, you were born -- a baby girl!  Grandma and Dad were so surprised that you weren't a boy.  You were our daughter, our little Kaelin Blaire.

Summer Vacation

Jason couldn't get any leave so for vacation this year, we drove up to my parents' house in Virginia.  We spent a day at Hershey Park and the rest of the time in the pool.

First time in the pool.

CANNONBALL!

Mmmm... chocolate.

Kaelin rode the Pirate Ship all by herself.

Bigger than last year.

Vacation with Grandma and Papa

Weekend Recap

We had a perfect 4th of July weekend.  Great food, great friends, great weather.  (Seriously, it was 85 with low humidity!)  Jason had the weekend off, we spent lots of time outdoors, watched movies on the couch, and saw lots of fireworks.  Harper even managed to sleep through the booms; Scout not so much. 

And Harper started crawling this weekend!

Good times.

P90X and Insanity... Now That's Insane!

I'm done with my first week of Insanity! 

I have to say that I'm impressed.  Insanity is definitely the best cardio workout I've had.  Of course, it's only cardio.  I was very disappointed with Cardio Power & Recovery.  It's supposed to be resistance training with your body weight, but other than push-ups and some tricep dips there really isn't anything that builds strength.  I threw in some P90X the other night just to get some upper body work in.

I was going to follow the Insanity program to the letter for the full 9 weeks just so I could see the results, but now that I've done all of the Month 1 workouts, I'm 100% sure that I'll lose strength.  I think I'm going to mix it up a little and add P90X and BBL into the schedule.  Of course, there are several hybrid programs out there, but I'm going to custom design one for myself, to fit my needs and my running schedule.  I'll post it when I get it done (or figure out how to add a calendar.)  I also have a group of friends starting their first round of P90X soon -- can't wait to see their results!

In other news... less than 2 weeks until my vacation!  I'm very happy to go back to Virginia if for no other reason than the awesome running trails.  My parents live less than a mile away from a Civil War battleground that's been revamped with running trails.  Some of them are dirt and through the forest.  Others are gravel across fields.  There's even two MASSIVE hills.  Hopefully, I'll get plenty of running time (you know, when I'm not submerged in their pool.)

Sadly, Hershey Park is on the schedule.  I'm not an amusement park sort of gal and I really don't want to gain back what little I've lost because of some stupid chocolate.  Don't forget the chocolate bar waiting for us that's bigger than Harper!

My Problem with Twilight

I like the Twilight books; I really do.  A coworker loaned me her copy of Twilight almost two years ago because I had forgotten a book to read during my lunch break.  I was skeptical, but I'll give any book a chance.

I didn't love it.  The actual writing isn't that great and the main character (Bella) was kind of annoying.  Annoying like I want to slap her and explain to her that a 17 year old in love is, well, laughable.  That's not to say that 17 year olds can't fall in love.  My mom got married at 17 and will be celebrating her 30th wedding anniversary in a few days.  But my God, is Bella an example of how not to be at that age.  Anyways, despite my better judgement, I bought New Moon.  I love New Moon.  It's one of my favorite books.  So, I anxiously order Eclipse and Breaking Dawn -- which both suck. 

But the series is entertaining if you can suspend your disbelief long enough to get into the story. 

In fact, this post isn't a tirade against the books.  I've read the books (especially New Moon) at least a dozen times over the last two years because I really like the relationships between the characters.  I realize that Stephanie Meyer isn't Jane Austin or Charlotte Bronte, but she doesn't pretend to be.

Rather, this post is about how much the movies suck.

Twilight sucked.  I watched it a total of ONE time and I cannot bring myself to watch it again.  It's like they said, "Let's take all the redeeming qualities from this book and throw them out the window."  I felt like I was watching two hours of Kristin Stewart biting her lip.  I've seen Robert Pattinson in other movies, and I know he can act.  Kristin Stewart, well, not so much.  I kept waiting for the movie to develop the characters.  I kept waiting for the bond to develop that turns Bella into an Edwardcentric shell.  It never happened. 

Then New Moon came out.  Remember, that I love New Moon.  The previews were pretty awesome and I thought, okay, I'll bite.  I even bought the movie because I was sure I would love it as much as the book. 

*facepalm*

I love New Moon because of the relationship Jacob and Bella have.  I love New Moon because it's slightly less "Oh, Edward."  But again, the movie lacked any depth.  I realize it's hard to put a 500 page book into a two hour movie, but it really seemed like they cut out the best parts.  Even the screenwriter, Melissa Rosenberg, claims that the series isn't exactly high art.  Thank goodness Taylor Lautner is hot, or I'd be out $20.  Hell, even Robert Pattinson said he's bored of the saga. 

So I was pretty much over the movies by the time the 50 billion trailers and clips of Eclipse were released.  Just the fact that Eclipse is probably the most boring book in the series and that the trailers are centered around Riley, who's in the book for all of three pages, put the proverbial final nail in the coffin.  Maybe I'll pay the $1 for the redbox rental in a couple of months, but I doubt it.

I realize that the Twilight franchise doesn't care.  There are enough vampire wannabes out there to make Summit rich. 

I also realize that I'm not the target demographic for Twilight.  I'm not all "Oh, Edward" and I don't desire to be Bella and have a sparkly vampire save me.  Interestingly, the facebook status updates that are constantly blabbering on about Eclipse are from friends who are over the age of 40 or under the age of 21.  I think I was lucky enough to be raised with a generation that was taught you don't need a man (or vampire) to save you from your life.  Or maybe it's because I'm happily married and have no reason to imagine myself giving birth to a vampire spawn.

Or maybe it's because I watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer and realize it's been done before, much better.

 

Photo source:  http://img511.imageshack.us/i/buffy133yq2.jpg/

 

Angel will always be better than Edward if for no other reason than he doesn't sparkle.

 

Also people, please don't name your kid Bella, Edward, or Cullen.  Seriously, Cullen is the fastest growing baby name of 2009.  Twilight is a fad that will fade like NKOTB (look it up, young'uns) and your kid will NOT appreciate it in 20 years.