This Will Make Your Nose Run

You know when you get to the end of the stuff in the fridge and (this is particularly true on weeks when I've DONE my meal planning) there's random stuff left over and (this happened this week) 1 or 2 recipes that you had planned, but you're missing some (or all!!) of the ingredients and it's dinnertime and you're hungry and... Now what?!

You throw stuff in a pot.  That's what.

This particular round of throwing stuff in a pot yielded awesomeness.  So, for all of posterity, here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 kielbasa sausage (we used something that had a fat count that would make your cry because that's what
the recipe I was planning to use it for called for... do yourself a favor, get chicken sausage or low-fat sausage or something)
1 red onion chunky diced (That's a technical term.  Straight from a culinary text book.  I promise)
2 jalapeno peppers sliced into rings (these were the only thing I would have changed. I left the seeds in and I added them at the same time as the onions... add them later and if you have any affection for yourself please remove the seeds)
2 zucchini chunky diced
1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
1 can chick peas (rinsed and drained) (same thing as garbanzo beans... ask me why this is funny later)
2 cups (or so) spinach (add it til you feel good.  Don't worry if your pot is too full it'll wilt down to nothing.)
1 can sliced stewed tomatoes  (I never buy these... I'm not even sure why I had them... diced is fine)
1 package quinoa (Ryan hates this stuff... he calls it "that weird yucky rice", but he thought it was pretty good in this application.)

The Doing Stuff Part:

1. Start the quinoa.  You can cook this stuff in a rice cooker if you have one... it will spew quinoa out of the vent hole if you fill it too full... to make the right amount to go with this you should fill it to the point where it will spew it out of it's vent hole.
2. Cut the sausage into 1/2 inch slices and then into the pan* til both sides are nice and browned. Remove and set aside.
3. Use the grease from the sausage and, if you heeded my advice and there isn't a lot of grease, a good glug of cooking oil (we needed a little more later and used olive oil)) start cooking the onion.**  
4. Once the onions are starting to get golden and tasty looking add the zucchini.  I let these get warmed through, but I wanted them to have a little texture left so I didn't cook them too long.  If you don't care for slightly crunchy zucchini keep cooking til they're soft.
5. At this point add the black beans and chick peas.  Stir to coat (whatever that means...).  Heat through.
6. Add the jalapenos and spinach.  Heap it in there and, if you have the means, cover until it's wilted down.
7. Put in the stewed tomatoes and sort of chop them up a bit with your stirring apparatus. 
8. Once everything is heated through turn off the heat and add the sausage.  Stir it all together.
9. Serve over "that weird yucky rice"... bring lots of water.

*A note on heat settings.  My husband helped with this.  So, he only cooks on maximum high heat.  I set the pan on the stove turn on the burner walk away to chop something... he stirs a couple times and nudges the heat up.  I bring over the next ingredient see that it's cooking a little fast (hot, burning, what have you) and turn it down and then walk away again... lather, rinse, repeat.  Medium will be sufficient... if you didn't prechop medium might even save dinner.

**I put the jalapenos in with the onion then went off to chop up the zucchini.  By the time I got that done and returned to stir there was a sort of haze of pepper fumes that made me cough and choke... don't put the peppers in until closer to the end.  I probably had this coming.  I've been using recipes from Martha Stewart all week and complaining loudly about how bland they are... this was not bland.

... Share the Crafts I've Completed at Work

It's been slow at work the last few days.  The holidays are just like that at my library.  So, to keep myself from going completely nuts I've been working on my crafts for the next few months.  I love that I get to do so much painting at the desk.  So, enjoy the projects... please don't mind the white and blue theme.  It's that time of the year.

Close-up Snowman

This one is for my older kids.  They'll draw and paint this snowman without a single circle.  Yay! New perspective!  I found a lot of crafts that involved looking at snowmen from a different angle.

Snowman from Above

This one doesn't have a link.  It's circles and supposed to be a simple paper craft for my preschoolers.  I found a picture of a card on Pinterest and made my own pattern. Could be a fail as a craft.  I had kids stop at the desk while I was working on it and they couldn't understand how the pile of circles was a snowman... I suppose if the kids make a traditional snowman picture with them it will be just as well.  That being said, I have a handful of kids (particularly my special little ones) who LOVE stacking circles.  So, maybe this will work alright for them.

YETI!

Again, no link.  Just draw a vaguely monsterly shape.  Then use Q-tips (I bundled about 6 of them together with a rubberband to make it go faster) to paint it white.  Add some snow and if you really feel like being fancy use a sharpie to trace the details.  Done.  I sort of love this one.

And now an unexpected perk of my job.

Kids make me stuff.  Stuff that they are REALLY proud of.  I love that they are proud of their skills and also that they want to share their talents with me.

First up:

Origami

T told me he was really good at origami.  He is.  After he made Christmas trees (he was the first to complete the challenge one with the 1 inch square of paper) he made me these.  They'll live on my desk til some kid walks off with them.  That's the way of the art in my life.

And:

Drawings

S is good at art.  She tells me every time I see her.  Today she proved it.  Notice the different ways she can draw eyes... and the interpretive way she makes snowman arms.  Those were an artistic choice.  She told me so.  Also, she tells me she's a good drawer, but she's better at painting... I can't wait!

... Fell Down the Children's Music Rabbit Hole...

... and found some neat stuff.

First things first, there is a lot of GREAT children's music out there.  There is a lot of great children's music that doesn't even really sound like it's for children and some of it is even created by adult artists.

Some of my current favorites that I use routinely as background music for my tween crafts.

Barenacked Ladies: Snacktime!

Lunch Money: Dizzy

Folk Playground

Sugar-Free AllStars: Funky Fresh and Sugar Free

Jack Johnson: Curious George Soundtrack

Recess Monkey: Animal House

Frances England: Fascinating Creatures

I haven't given any of these titles the thorough listening that they probably deserve, but as far as background tracks for painting like Michelangelo (lying on our backs under tables dribbling paint on our faces) or whatever crazy craft I've cooked up for the day; they were superb.  Everyone one of these had at least one song on it with lyrics just quirky enough to catch the kids interest ("Wait!  Did they just say make a balloon your friend?! That's ridiculous..."  Yes, yes it is.).  

Today, I went looking for a different kind of music.  Music that I could enjoy, but also find the chords for and maybe even play on my ukulele for the newest addition to our programing line up*.  This proved a bit tricky.  There isn't tab for a lot of children's music because no one has taken time time to figure it out (the exception being Barenaked Ladies and They Might Be Giants).  But. after much digging, I found my heroes.

Introducing Mr. Dan Zanes.  Check out his website where he give links to all the lyrics and an option to download the lyrics with the chords!!!  THANK YOU!!!!

and 

Mr. Caspar Babypants, (hint: not his real name.) who has also graciously provided music and chords.

I was very excited about this.  I emailed Mr. Babypants:

THANK YOU!!!!  I'm a children's library. I bought a ukulele for storytime, but have been seriously struggling with nursery rhymes (they have a purpose, don't get me wrong, but they are hard to really get into).  We use your CDs CONSTANTLY (had to buy extra copies so the patrons can get a hold of them) and on a whim I googled for chords for your songs.  So happy that you've provided them!

You're our hero!

Jessica and the rest of the Children's Department

He was very excited to hear from me and replied to my email:

YES!!! that is the response I hoped for as I spent hours and hours and hours doing that project!!!
glad they are getting used! spread the word!
casapr

 We have collectively used our lifetime allotment of exclamation points.   There you have it.  My seriously esoteric break-through.  This is life changing for me... and only me. :-(

*Our newest program is called Preschool Pals and is aimed at ages 2-5 (but we welcome any age when accompanied by an adult).  We created this to try to service our growing number of toddlers, but still provide an option for our dwindling number of preschoolers (last session of storytime the turn out was devastatingly abysmal)... Wish us luck! 

 

... Made Some Stuff...

I made refrigerator pickles.

With cucumbers grown in some persons real garden...

... somewhere in Indiana

This jar will be gone in a day or less.

Ryan came home from visiting his grandfather in Indiana with little cucumbers grown by one of his neighbors and destine for picklehood.  This is my second batch of pickles.  I "used" this recipe (scroll down to almost the bottom of the page).  I will admit that I don't really use recipes so much... they're just sort of a guideline.  The first time I made spicier pickles (which I really enjoyed).  This time they ended up more like the dill pickles you'd get at the grocery.  Ryan likes these better.  They don't have quite the kick.  I like kick.

I made two jars.  The second jar is destined for my mother-in-law.  I promised her some of the next batch I made... probably why she sent her son home with pickles... I am so on to her!

Also, today at work I made hardware jewelry as a demo for a craft I'm doing on Monday...

Stylish, eh?

Sorry for the picture of my gnarly arm.  Turns out owning and angry cat for like ten years has a serious effect on your skin.  Also, that's my sun damaged driving arm...

So, there it is.  I did some stuff.

...Taught Creative Writing at Work

Today's Creative Writing class was based on this book:

It has no plot.  If I was in a classroom setting, this would be a perfect example for the introduction of prepositions.  Simple drawings take us from the front door of a house, though fairy tales, into outer space and eventually back home again.  Each page uses a preposition (in front, behind, next to, among) to get us from one place to the next.  A classroom book where each student makes a page and it all gets put together would be in short order, but I don't have a classroom... What's a children's librarian to do??

Make each kid make their own book, get as far as they can in an hour and send them home to "finish it" (yeah, right!).  I don't have to evaluate their understanding and they were pretty wicked proud of what they accomplished.  You know you're running a good program when the get panicky when you announce 10 minutes left.

And now...

Student work!

A grizzledragondino...
Be afraid.

 And there it is.  What a bunch of kids can accomplish in an hour.  It was fun for them, I think.  I was bored out of my mind... They worked so diligently, I didn't have anything to do.

... Went to Musecon

Musecon was my first convention ever.  It was held at the Westin in Itasca. 

A rather impressive structure.

As far as I can understand this particular convention is basically a group of people that either pay themselves or pay to (depending on a terribly loose system of judging who has the most knowledge...) hang out with each other.  I say that the system is terribly loose because in almost all of the panels we went to at least one "audience" member (all part of the musecon club) knew more in at least some area than the presenter.  I would have probably enjoyed more of this convention if I (or Ryan) hadn't take college level courses in almost every subject that was being presented by (self-proclaimed) aspiring amateurs.  It was  still a good time, though.  I wish we had been more outgoing. 

There wasn't a lot of good photo ops.  So here are a few from Friday night:

Look!  A funny picture!

Hard to get a picture of Tesla coils in action.

 Have video!

We didn't go at all on Saturday (Ryan didn't feel well and I wasn't super set on most of the panels, though I am a bit sad that we missed Cooking Like an Anarchist... not that I need permission to break the rules in the kitchen.)

On Sunday we watched a guy do some science and I got to see this little contraption:

Do not be afraid.  It is not a torture device.

This can be used to put an electric shock into a insulator which when dusted with powder will show you path the electricity took across the plastic.  Very cool.  May turn up in a library program so stay tuned.

Of the panels we attended on Sunday, the most beneficial to us was probably the one on studio lighting in photography.  Ryan got to play with some light boxes and take pictures of a strange woman.

Look at the awesome shadows!

 They same principals applied in our living room.  Only with the sun instead of subtle studio lights.

It's burning my retinas THROUGH my eyelids 

Dramatic dog doesn't need dramatic lighting.

Fun Fact: I realized that when I try to smile casually in a picture, I totally look like I'm being sly.  Like perhaps just out of frame I am holding something dangerous or inappropriate... 

It's a dildo...
kidding.

...Decided to Not Be an Adult After Work

This week has been a very adult stuff heavy week.  We had to renew our lease.  Ryan had to go to the dentist and get his back adjusted (twice).  It's just been lousy with adult responsibility.

So we decided to not be grown ups and to do what we want...

and to that end...

I got a sweet new gaming setup!

Dining room tables are so totally for adults!

Then we played a couple solid hours of Borderlands.

Fun Fact: I have managed to keep up with Ryan level-wise over the first 3 hours of game play... without knowing that right clicking let you, you know, actually aim your gun... I am pretty much a badass.