Weekend Adventures #8

First off, thank you for all of your Instagram hints that you left me on my last post. If you started following me on the IG (as all of us cool, hip kids call it) then you would have seen me hashtagging up a storm this weekend. One thing that I am loving about Instagram is all the bloggy people on it, and that I am interacting with more of you now. LOVE it! And if you get around to it, check me out on Instagram @caseys_adventures

And now, this weekend.
To start, a little story about what happened in class on Friday (I realize me being at work pretty much means it's not the weekend, but it's a good story.) So here we are, having a discussion in class about bullying when all the sudden *prrfft* NO joke, I just Googled how to spell out fart noise. A kid ripped one in class. He cut the cheese. He tooted. Not surprisingly, the other students started laughing. What was surprising, was his reaction. "Awww, my stomach. I'm not supposed to have milk, but I had cocoa crispies for breakfast and I didn't take my pill. I was trying to hold it until after class." I asked him if he needed to go outside, he said, yes and out the door he went. He went outside, and came back a couple minutes later, saying that he felt better. Apparently he told his other teachers that he farted in my class too.  I have had students fart in class before, but never with this reaction. The kids were laughing, but not really at him, more at his reaction.

Source

Saturday:
The Mister and I headed over to Mt. Angel for the annual Oktoberfest. Mt. Angel is a small community, that has quite the German heritage. Oktoberfest brings it out, and there is leiderhosen, sausage and beer everywhere. And wiener dogs. Seriously, it seemed like every daschund in the Willamette Valley was there for the races, or just to look stinking cute.

Clock tower at the Glockenspeil, right before it went off. 

I would be lying if I didn't admit that my favorite part of Oktoberfest is the food.

This was my culinary sampling for the day. Strawberry shortcake, cheese fondue, Bud Light Lime-a-Rita (8% alcohol. What??) and delicious spaetzle. (Spaetzle is a German pasta. Here's the recipe I use for homemade spaetzle if you are interested.)

Sunday: 

Last Sunday I made a dozen breakfast burritos. (BTW, they. are. awesome.) This week, I tackled the bounty of jalapenos in my garden and made some easy pickled peppers.

I Googled quite a few recipes for refrigerator peppers, and this post was mentioned in almost every one I read. And less than an hour later:

We'll see in a couple weeks if they are any good. I don't think the Mister is holding out hope for them. I have visions of nachos.

After I was done being domestic, I decided to pretend it wasn't going to be in the 90's this week, and bought a new pair of boots for the fall. I do have one small problem with boots: I have what I like to call "power calves." This makes finding boots that fit kind of a pain. I ended up with a pair of scrunchie boots.

Famous Footwear

I really want a pair of Frye boots, but my hubby would divorce me I just can't spend $350 on one pair of shoes. I ended my Sunday with laundry and I started rewatching season 1 of Gilmore Girls. (Have you gone back and rewatched the early seasons? They talk so SLOW compared to the later years.)

How was your weekend? Ever been to an Oktoberfest? Do you have power calves? What boots work for you?

InstaQuestions

So Instagram. What's the deal?

About a month ago, I took the plunge and upgraded my super awesome 5.5 year old cell phone, and got a smart phone. Do I need a smart phone? No. Not even a little bit. Although, we have used it to help get directions once or twice. And it has helped me pass some time in a traffic jam and while I am waiting for people. One perk of a smart phone is Instagram. I was so excited to be a part of this Instagram cool club. I had seen my Facebook blowing up with Instagram pictures and I had seen tons of bloggers doing Instagram link-ups and saying things like "if you follow me on Instagram you would have seen..."

But now that I have it, I don't get it. I mean, I sort of do. Take a picture, put a cool effect on it, post it. But what is Instagram worthy? How do I find all you cool people? I am noticing some people hashtag their pictures. Should I be doing this? What are the hashtag rules? Ooh! How do I do a collage for Instagram? So many questions!

Just recently I have been interacting more on Instagram with a couple of other bloggers, which is cool. I don't Twitter, I mean I don't Tweet. Maybe someday, but I need to figure this bad boy out first.

Follow me on Instagram! caseys_adventures

A Day of Service

I think we all remember where we were 11 years ago.

I just want to take a moment to thank all of the heroes that help people everyday.

Soldiers. 

Firefighters. 

Police Officers.

Paramedics. 

These are the people who are out there risking their lives for someone that they most likely have never met. So thank you. Thank you for doing a job that is high stress, high risk, and sometimes comes with low respect. You are our heroes.

Today is now known as a day of service (along with MLK day), or a day to volunteer. I LOVE volunteerism and service. Look at what your community needs. Sign up for an email list or "like" the facebook page of a local volunteer service group. Try "Hands-On (your city/area name)" or ask your local United Way. You will get so many opportunities you won't know what to do with yourself.  Giving money, food and items is a wonderful thing, and is something that most of us can do, but giving your TIME is a whole other ball game.

All throughout high school I volunteered weekly at the local hospital. Since I graduated, I haven't been able to schedule something like that in. But I have been able to sign up to help at one day events like 5ks, trick or treating for canned food, and harvesting fruit. Don't get me wrong, organizations NEED your money, food and other items. And if that is all you are able to do, please continue to do it :)

I am so fortunate enough to work in a low income school. For the last 3 years, I have been able to give my students the opportunity to serve and volunteer for their community. What I have witnessed, is that these "underprivileged" youth have the biggest hearts and love to give. This Friday over 100 of our students will be going through disaster training and then making disaster kits that will be given out to low income seniors and disabled veterans. Next month we have another project planned. I work closely with Hands On Willamette to give my students these opportunities, and my leadership class even chooses what they want to focus on to serve.

So today, when you are thanking the heroes in your everyday life, try to see how you can be a superhero yourself- VOLUNTEER!

Weekend Adventures #7ish

Does any one else feel like their weekends break down like this: Friday night is for decompressing from the work week, Saturday is fun day and Sunday is spent preparing for the next week? That's pretty much how my weekend was. If I don't plan out events or something, I end up kind of feeling like I wasted my weekend. I guess that's just how it works out sometimes. And I needed that rest on Friday night. I completely forgot how exhausting teaching is! Friday night I was asleep by 8:30. Yeah, I live an exciting life.

Saturday, the Mister and I went to one of the largest Renaissance Fairs in the area. For those of you who are regular readers, yes, this is the second Ren. fair we have gone to this summer. No, we don't dress up. Or talk in the jargon, with the exception of yelling "huzzah!" during the joust.

Our knight for the joust. 

Giant rocking horses. I wish I would have taken a ride on one.

You know, just guys in metal armor hitting each other with swords.

This festival was pretty fun. There were tons of booths set up and people were selling some pretty cool things. While the Mister was busy looking at swords (because every house needs one) I was thisclose to buying a handmade puzzle ring like this one. I'm actually kind of bummed I didn't get it.

You can buy this one here

There were tons of food. I ended up with a hummus, tabouli, chicken combo plate with pita bread. The mister had some lamb and rice as well as some sausage. I really wanted some caramel corn, but I was stuffed after my lunch.

Sunday was a pretty laid back day. The Mister grilled up some chicken, and we made extra so I can do stuff with the chicken meat later in the week. This blog post has a ton of ideas for left over chicken. The chicken enchilada pasta and the chicken/veggie lasagna are both interesting to me. I'll let you know what we end up with!

I also took a cue from Pinterest and made a dozen breakfast burritos for the freezer. I used this post to help guide my cooking, but my burritos had eggs, potatoes, turkey sausage, sauteed onions/mushrooms and cheese (duh!). I am still really new to freezer cooking, so we'll see how these turn out. I have always been bad about eating breakfast in the morning, so hopefully these will help.

Then, because I still had a hankering for some caramel corn, I made some up and made baggies for the rest of the week :)

How was your weekend? Do you feel like your weekends are just trying to get caught up and ready for work?