Vacation Pictures

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our vacation to the Smoky Mountains in June.


These photos were taken at Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountains National Park.



















We went to the Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg one day.













What a cute kangaroo..



We took a nice hike to Laurel Falls.







We also hiked to the top of Clingman's Dome. It was too foggy to see much.







We stopped on the way down to the Smoky Mountains to vacation with Mike's parents in Fairfield, TN.





We also hiked Porter's Creek Trail. There were many historical artifacts on this trail that were interesting and a geocache!







This is an old fireplace that is just off the trail. We also found a very old stone wall and stone steps built by pioneer mountain people, a cemetery and pieces from an ancient model T Ford.



This is a 130 year old barn that we came across on the trail.





Random Mountain Scenery. Pretty, pretty.

New Name, New Look

And more posts coming to a blog near you.

Meow 1 and Meow 2

Came home to this today. Cutest things ever.

Earth Day 2008

Please take a minute and ask Congress to stop global warming and to reverse the extraordinary environmental destruction that is taking place around the world. Sign the Sky Petition!

Job Applications and a Recipe

So I pause from my pile of job applications (complete with essay questions!) to bring you a delicious, new recipe that is great for leftovers.

Cuban Pork Sandwich

Hamburger buns
Yellow mustard
Mayo
Leftover pork roast
Sliced deli ham
Sliced swiss cheese
dill pickle slices
2 T melted butter

For each sandwich:

Spread mustard on one half of the bun. Spread mayo on the other. Layer pork, ham, cheese, and pickles. Put buns together and flatten to about 1 inch thickness.

Brush tops of sandwich with melty butter. Cook like grilled cheese sandwich.

I don't know what makes it a Cuban sandwich, but it was surprisingly good. I had to microwave mine for 20 seconds after I grilled it to get the meat in the middle nice and warm.

Yummy Hummus

Super quick, easy, cheap, low-fat, and yummy!

Hummus

1 can garbonzo beans (chickpeas), drained
1/4 c olive oil
1 small clove of garlic
1 T lemon juice
1/2 t salt
pita bread, pita chips, or veggies

Place beans, olive oil, garlic, lemon and salt into food processor. Blend on high speed, stopping to scrape sides occasionally. Blend into a uniform consistency. Store in tupperware, in fridge.

Serve with pitas, chips, veggies or whatever.

RIP Homer the Gerbil

The best gerbil ever.

I saved him from a family who wanted to get rid of him because they were tired of him. They told me I could do whatever I wanted with him... not a good thing if you are a gerbil. So I brought him home 3 years ago and he has been part of our little zoo of animals ever since.

Even though most people might think that just he's a gross little rodent, he was my little rodent... and I will miss him.

...

Spring Break Countdown

Only 3 days until Spring Break woooooooo! Good thing too, because Mike and I could both really use a week off work!

Unfortunately, we are not doing anything especially exciting this year. A trip up north and then a tentative geocaching adventure in Brown County are in the works, but that's about it.

But I found out today that we ARE going back to the Smoky Mountains again this summer!!! YAY!!!

Check out where we are staying!

We'll be there during the first week of June. We get to bring the dog, celebrate our first anniversary there and hopefully do a lot of the stuff we ran out of time to do last year.

So exciting! Let the summer vacation countdown begin!

I Couldn't Resist...

From a funny little email I got today...

Are you sick of high paid teachers? Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - baby sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM
with 45 min. off for lunch and plan — that equals 6 1/2 hours).

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.

Now how many do they teach in day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.

LET’S SEE…. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 peryear. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).

What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children
X 180 days = $280,800 per year.

Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here! There sure is!

The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!)

WHAT A DEAL!!!!