A week of relaxation

This past week I had a nice week off from school...Mid-Winter Break.  It was a very nice and relaxing week around here.  I was able to finish 2 books....I cooked some nice dinners....and I was able to run a lot...without being tempted to skip it.  We had also gotten about 6 inches of snow on Wednesday night, and it is still sticking to the ground today!  It has been extremely cold lately...getting down to 20 degrees last night...we had no dog walks this week!!  On Tuesday Abby and I were able to discover more of Downtown Seattle, and discovered the Sodo district of Seattle.  We found a European/Mediterranean Grocery store that had the most wonderful cheeses I had ever laid my eyes on.  We had also tasted many of the samples as well....yum!  I also have fallen in love with a cheese called Dorothea...a nice Gouda infused with dandelions!! It was just fabulous.  Abby had wanted to go to Big John's PFI...and I have now fallen in love! They have wonderful Italian pastas, spices, and other items that are fabulous!!  We were also able to go to a bakery that Abby had seen on Evening Magazine.  We went to Alaska Silk Pie Company.  It took us a awhile to find the place, and we went in not knowing what to expect.  We were able to tour the whole bakery, meet the owner, and taste some of her creations! We of course bought some pies and they have been so delicious!!  It was just a great day!

This week I was also to catch up on my DVR recordings, and start researching for my Master's Degree I plan on starting this summer.  I absolutely love the show "Off the Map".  It is so great.  I love how it is made up of not-well-known actors and I absolutely love the story lines.  The shows are about these young doctors who are working in Central America.  There are such great plots such as trying to extract a python that is wrapped around a person, cutting someone loose from a zip-lining adventure, cutting off someone's leg that is trapped underwater, and of course I love the part of the show where one of the doctors is falling for a mysterious, and handsome local that is unfortunately a criminal as well!  The show is great, full of suspense, and not bad looking actors!  :) 

This week I have also been able to research for financial assistance for my Master's Degree.  I have settled on applying to Grand Canyon University, located in Phoenix.  I know, I know it sounds weird, but this college is a great price, and I can do my whole degree online....which is great having my full time job as well.  There are several other teachers at my school going through their program and are very happy with it.  I plan on getting a degree enhancing my reading program, helping me better teach literacy which I am always seeming to struggle with, there is just no one right way to teach it!!  I feel that going through the program will give me a clearer approach to the best practices to have in my classroom.  I have been looking through financial aid forms, and looking at all of these ridiculous scholarships as well.  Did you know they have 3-sentence scholarships?  All you have to do is write 3 sentences, and if they like your answer they could give you like $2,000?? Some of these scholarships look so bogus to me. 

We will be going over to Koriann's house tonight to celebrate my Father-In-Law's birthday!!  Yesterday we were able to go to Spud's Fish and Chips on Alki with him and Abby, and then we saw the movie Unknown! Great Movie!!  I absolutely love spending time with his family who are so welcoming and kind. 

I hope you all have had a fabulous week as well, and a wonderful weekend!

Enjoy some of Steve's Recent Pictues he has taken!!

Steve taking advantage of the fresh new snow!! At Alpental the week before.

Moon setting from our window...at 7:15 am                         Creek in Alpental

One of our few Bald Eagle neighbors!  We see them weekly in the trees above Lake Washington.  So beautiful!!

another sick weekend... :( and Valentine's Day!!

 Riley Bear at the Dog Park

Yet again I am stuck at home on Saturday sick watching movies with the dogs on the couch!  I honestly have no idea what I have.  At first I thought I had a sinus infection, and stayed home from work on Monday.  Then I went back to work for the rest of the week, and started feeling bad again at the end of my Thursday workday, and powered through yesterday as well.  I feel like I have some sort of head cold, with headaches and lots of congestion in my throat and sinuses.  I absolutely hate taking medicine, I would like to take the natural route and have my body kick the problem out on it's own.  So now I'm here with my super-sized orange juice laying on the couch with Buddy watching "French Kiss"...one of my Mom and I's favorites.

On another note, I am planning on cooking a nice dinner for Steve tomorrow night for our Valentine's Day.  I am planning on cooking some Barefoot Contessa recipes....an engagement chicken, some roasted vegetables....and some other stuff.  I do really love cooking new things and using Steve as my guinea pig.  It is also very hard at times to please his palate since he is such a picky eater!! But we shall see!! :)

I am very excited for next week since our district has mid-winter break!!! (not this week coming up), but next week we get a full week off for a 2nd winter break!!  I am so excited and need to figure out my plans....hopefully I won't be sick anymore and I'll be able to exercise again....maybe cook more new foods...and spend some quality time with Steve on his days off.  I am very excited!!  I would definitely love some company if you are in the Seattle area :)

For the rest of my day I plan on listening to Bob Marley....and reading my book!!

Enjoy your Valentine's Day with the ones you love!!

Take Care!

~Kim

Sick..Sick..Sick

My Firefighter hubby....isn't he cute??  :)

As of now I am laying in my bed...along with the dog, trying to fight off yet another sinus infection.  In Tucson I would get 2-3 sinus infections a year because my body simply doesn't like the dry weather.  I grew up in a humid climate and my body likes "wetter" environments.  I was soo close to not getting sick this year....and now I'm in bed...can only breathe out of one nostril, sipping hot tea, wrestling with all of the tissues, and snuggling with the dog.  I have used every sinus medication under the sun in previous years, and they really do not work for me.  I hate using medicine to fight off anything because it just "hides" the symptoms, yet I am still sick, and loopy to boot. So I am just waiting this awful thing out hoping to be back to work a little bit better on Monday.  Hence...."relaxing"....by the way Food Network is doing a great weekend of CHOCOLATE...yay Valentine's Day coming up!!!

I also came to the decision last week to go on a little hiatus from facebook, and I haven't missed it at all.  I have been very down on myself lately about a lot of things...maybe even jealousy issues, and made the decision to not go on facebook for a long time.  I don't have a time frame in mind for how long I will be away...I'm just hoping it will phase out of my life.  I have found that I waste soo much time on facebook trying to keep up with every person I have ever encountered in high school, college, and etc., but a lot of these people I rarely have a conversation with on the phone, person to person, or what.  I really do admire our society for advancing in technology but at the same time people do not know how to talk to each other and have a conversation anymore.  Everything is "he/she facebooked me", or you don't even think to call them up to have a conversation that is so much more intimate and meaningful.  I will continue to post my blog postings to facebook, but I will not log-in to my account to check on everything else.  I have many of my friends and family that still read my blog and this is how they can read it.  I will use this time off to read the list of books I have been meaning to read, take my dogs for runs, learn a new recipe to cook and spend more time with Steve.  There is so much more to life than checking in on everyone else to see what they are doing.  I would rather spend more time on me, myself and I.

Sorry for the ranting, this is just some of the things I have been thinking about lately....if you need to contact me you may call....or even text me!!!

I hope you all have a great Super Bowl Sunday!! Eat great food, spend time with friends, and enjoy my favorite part....the commercials!!

Too bad my beloved Cowboys aren't in it......there's always next year!! haha ;)