A Fall Feast!

Well, I haven't eaten enough all week so I left work today on a mission--find parsnips. I had wanted to make this stew last weekend but I couldn't find 4 of the ingredients for my recipe. So, tonight I went to Whole Foods...which...by the way, is amazing. It's like being at an art gallery while shopping for food! But, I managed to find my stew lamb, parsnips, sweet potatoes and butternut squash!

So now...oh, so good. It took a while, but I prepared a delicious fall feast. The stew is bubbling on the stove and it smells soooooo good! Lamb, parsnips, celery, sweet potatoes, thyme, onions, garlic, bay leaf, beef broth, squash, and sour cream! I'm so excited! I wish you could smell it. So, it's Halloween and I have nowhere to go and I accomplished much today, so I brought a bunch of grading home, lit a fire in my fireplace, cooked my stew, and got a cup of hot apple cider! I can even grade in an environment like this. (That is a very good thing. I have managed to keep up with grading so far...but seriously, I'm getting sick of it! It never ends!)

Today was great. We have been doing some interactive things lately in both classes, so it's fun. Today my Freshmen had a wonderful discussion about what makes an empire and whether the United States is an empire. So good. And then, my seniors did a role play where three groups were politicians presenting their view of Russia's future to a group of voters broken up into 6 personalities. I wasn't sure if it was going to fly...but it worked so much better than I expected. The kids really got into the issues and the politicians played their roles so well. The voters even asked better questions than I was expecting. I just hope 7th period does as well with it. There is a grad student who wants to observe some history classes at our school and so our principal set up an observation schedule for him and I'm one of the unlucky ones that was chosen. He's coming tomorrow, when my rowdy 7th period is going to be doing the role play. Luckily, they tend to really get involved in whatever it is we do...but I'm a little worried they'll get carried away. We didn't get as far as I wanted to...but the discussion we did have in class was so good that we almost didn't need to do everything I had on my lesson plan. Anyway, good day. I even had a few students stop by during my planning and we chatted about teaching and college.

Oh! And I told them my ghost story from Loch Lommond. My poor freshmen didn't get to hear the end of the story because the fire alarm went off half way through! They were so cute! They were ready to just skip the fire drill to hear the end!

I needed a good day. The days haven't been awful, but my first period is starting to really drag me down and I feel like all I ever do is work. Lately I've been coming home and not working. That's bad though. I'm so grumpy from the day that i come home and watch tv shows on abc.com or read. Anyway, I guess that's not a bad thing. But, I miss my roommate. I moved from Renton, farther away from friends and family, because I thought that it would be worth it to have a roommate but I NEVER see her anymore. I seriously haven't seen her in a week and a half! I'm getting lonely.

Anyway, I'm happy here in my living room with my cozy environment and my comfort food. I hope you all are enjoying your Halloween!

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