Author: traci

Posted in faith

Numbers 13: 1 – 33

Posted on by traci

Notes about Numbers 13: 1 – 33:

  • Deuteronomy 1:19 -25 provides the procedural details about the mission.
  • Fear and discouragement was sounded throughout this account.
  • The tribal representation did not include the tribe of Levi’s. (Le-Vee)
  • The Levi’s were the priests.
  • Instead it included Joseph’s tribe being divided into 2 for his sons Ephraim and Manasseh.
  • In Numbers 13:16 – Jesus is Greek for Joshua.
  • They had set up camp in the wilderness of Paran in Kadesh Barnea – 50 miles south of the Promised Land.
  • 12 men sent into the Promised land – spent 40 days gathering samples of local crops.
  • Both good and bad news reported which divides the people
  • Spying was a popular military tactic of the day.
  • The spies traveled 275 miles north to the territory west of the Jordan River.
  • The first area they explored was Negev – Very dry
  • Further north was Canaan – Much more fertile – Ideal for milk producing sheep and goats. The flowers and plants produced pollen for the bees to turn into honey.
  • This was 2 years after leaving Egypt. They had found the Promised Land but continued to be fearful. Lack of faith.
  • For their lack of faith, they had to wander one year for each day they had gone on the mission. 40 years.
  • They didn’t believe they could go against the giants.
  • The Nephilim were mentioned one other time in the Bible. Genesis 6:4 – Those Nephilim died during the Great Flood.
  • We need to have Caleb’s faith. (Numbers 13:30)

30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”

Numbers 13:30
Isaacology | Wilderness of Paran
NOVA | The Bible's Buried Secrets | Teacher's Guide image 1 | PBS

Be blessed with this reading.

Traci

Posted in Writing Workshop

Chokers, stirrup pants, and body suits – Writing workshop June 3, 2021

Posted on by traci

The 90’s . . . Teenaged me and then young adult me . . . A time where I began to know the real me. The fashions of the 90s . . . Some need to stay while others just need to go.

There used to be this one clothing store in the middle of downtown Dayton that I used to go and explore. I think I bought a piece or two from that store. So what was I looking for when I shopped at that store? Stirrup pants and body suits. Yes, you read that right pants with a strap at the bottom of your foot which is a disaster waiting to happen. You could have been de-pantsed just by bending down incorrectly. And I bought pants that would do that naturally for me. What was I thinking?

Then there was the body suit. So not only did I have a piece of fabric under my foot, I also buttoned up my shirt in an unmentionable area. This time wedgies were enviable. So I could lose my pants bending over and I would have a wedgie. And I chose to wear these outfits. Twenty year old Traci, what were you thinking?

I also wore overalls. My aunt sent me this cute overall shorts that I wore while on the Disney College Program. To this day, I don’t know what happened to them after I got home. I probably wore them but when I moved away from home, they got lost. Even if I found them, I could only get my big toe into them. I was much smaller then.

The last piece of 90s trend that I wore was the choker. Why did we think we needed to put this piece of jewelry on our neck to emphasize an area that is not always flattering. Think double chin anyone. Okay, to be truthful, some chokers can be cute, so I would wear them now if I had a choker to wear.

Wearing those dreaded stirrup pants and an ex boyfriend’s jacket. Don’t ask why I had a pen in my mouth.
I labeled myself in this photo. I’m wearing one of those body suits. This is actually one of my favorite pictures of me from the College Program.
16 year old me up to no good. I’m not wearing anything fashionable here. However, my sons tell me that I look like a typical 90s teenager in this photo.

This post is linked up to Mama Kat’s Losing It’s Weekly Writing Workshop.

Posted in menu plan monday, Menu planning, travel, West Virginia

Teen Friendly Meal Plan

Posted on by traci

A year ago yesterday, we drove down to the New River Gorge area. Hubby, my sons, my niece and nephew, and a few of their friends were going white water rafting. I was just there because my niece was going.

I took over cooking for the group of kids. We had a small fridge, a microwave, toaster, and coffee maker. That’s it. No sink, so everything needed to be disposable if we had any dinner.

There was a sink in the bathroom of our cabin, but it was so small that it was hard to clean anything there.

I brought my Instant Pot to cook the dinners while my nephew brought something to cook pancakes on for one of the breakfasts.

So what did we eat during the 2.5 days we were there. I had 2 dinners and breakfast to consider. Lunch was on the river when they went white water rafting.

The two dinners we had were spaghetti and hot dogs with Mac and cheese. The hot dogs were frozen before we left for the trip. Even driving the 4 to 5 hours to New River Gorge did not defrost the hot dogs. They tried roasting them over the fire, but they remained cold inside. Ugh!

The favorite meal was the spaghetti. There was nothing left after the meal. I believe we had some sort of bread with it.

Breakfast was pancakes and cereal. They had milk and juice to go with their breakfast. We forgot to bring a spatula, so that was interesting using my wooden spoon to flip the pancakes.

We also had lots of snacks for the boys. Plus the boys brought their own food. One brought MREs to share with their friends.

Hubby and I were able to sneak away for a while. Since the teens we took were older teens except for Youngest, we didn’t need to watch them constantly. We went to Sheetz for coffee and their snack packs. We ate it while walking to the overlook.

After walking under the New River Gorge, we left. We needed to get food before leaving. Our original plan was to go to Sheetz for cheap eats. Instead we went to the Secret Sandwich Society for good burgers and pimento fries.

Five months after to visiting the Secret Sandwich Society, it burned to the ground.😭 I can just picture us sitting there on the patio waiting for the food. The teens just talking about whatever popped into their head. We were saddened to hear of it’s demise.

So why am I sharing this menu with you? This started a trend for me. I went on a few pandemic trips where I needed to plan out the meals for the trip. In a week and a half, I’m leaving once again for a trip. I planned out the food for that trip. I’ll share it with you once we get closer to the trip happening.

I’ll also share the menu from my Epic trip with my friend Molly last July and our menu from our beach trip last December. I can plan meals like nobody’s business but can’t keep a meal plan to save my life.

Menu:

Breakfasts:
Cereal, French toast muffins, cheese, applesauce, or fruit cup – Juice and milk

Lunches:
On the river and at Sandwich Society

Dinners:
Hot dogs with Mac and cheese
Spaghetti with Hawaiian rolls (favorite meal)

Dessert:
S’Mores on the campfire

My coffee that I got at Sheetz on the way down to the campsite.
Meals that were eaten on our trip.
The yummy food from the Secret Sandwich Society.

Happy eating,
Traci

Posted in Recipes

Easy Salmon in the Air Fryer (GF)

Posted on by traci

Easy Salmon in the Air Fryer

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

-1 wild caught salmon fillet

-2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

-1/3 c. Brown sugar

-2 tsp. Garlic herb seasoning


Directions

  1. Preheat air fryer to 400 degrees.
  2. Mix together the mustard, brown sugar, and garlic herb seasoning.
  3. Pat dry the salmon fillet. Remove the skin, if desired.
  4. Slather on the mustard, brown sugar, and garlic herb seasoning all over the salmon.
  5. Place in the air fryer.
  6. Cook for 10 minutes.
  7. Enjoy with your favorite side dish.

Posted in menu plan monday, Menu planning

Mom, What’s for dinner? – Meal Plan Week of May 31st, 2021

Posted on by traci

I planned out the meal for Memorial Day. Then Oldest needed to make sure it was an American meal. I don’t know what an unAmerican meal would look like according to him.

Here is our menu for the week. As you can see most of it is easy meals to put together. I think Friday’s is going to be the hardest meal because I’ve got to make the crust. I have a pizza crust kit, so that shouldn’t be too hard.

Monday – Memorial Day

Burgers (Impossible burger for me), Corn on the Cob, Chips, Baked Beans, Cucumbers

Tuesday

Rice and Beans, Roasted Cauliflower & Broccoli

Wednesday

Tacos, Roasted veggies

Thursday

Shrimp scampi on gluten free pasta, chicken from freezer for the family

Friday

Pizza and cheese bread

Breakfasts for this week keep changing. I ordered Kodiak’s gluten free protein pancake mix which came yesterday. So that is going to be some of my breakfasts. Another breakfast idea is to have smoothies with chia seeds and hemp hearts, if I can find them. They were not at Aldi’s when I checked the other day.

Lunches are often difficult for me. I’ve been on a grilled cheese kick lately since I have some gluten free sour dough bread. I’ll eat the grilled cheese with either a salad or a veggie. Another lunch idea is a snack plate of cheese, olives, nuts, maybe a hard boiled egg, and crackers. I may add some tuna to it. I eat a mostly vegetarian diet with the exception of seafood.

If you would like some other breakfast ideas, please click on this link. Here are some lunch ideas. And dinner ideas

Happy eating,
Traci

Posted in Recipes

Homemade GF brownies

Posted on by traci

Homemade Brownies

  • Servings: 16
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

-2/3 semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips (dairy free for Paleo brownies)

-5 Tbsp. coconut oil

-2/3 c. coconut sugar

-2 eggs

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-2/3 blanched almond flour

-2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder or cacao powder1

-1 tsp. baking soda

-1/4 tsp. salt/

-Mix ins:  2/3 c. chocolate chips or chopped nuts


Directions

  1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line an 8 x 8 baking pan with parchment paper or spray with non stick spray.
  2. In a small saucepan, melt chocolate and coconut oil over LOW heat until it’s smooth and glossy.
  3. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
  4. In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut sugar and eggs.  (I used my Kitchen Aid)  Set aside.
  5. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.  (Almond flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
  6. Whisk together the sugar-egg mixture and the melted chocolate until smooth.  Stir in vanilla.  Mix.
  7. Fold in the dry ingredients. until mixed.
  8. Fold in the mix-ins.
  9. Pour into the prepared baking dish.
  10. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.  (Mine took almost 30 minutes.)  Make sure the center is cooked.
  11. Remove from oven and allow to cool before cutting.
  12. Enjoy!

Posted in Animal, local sights, photograph, photographs, Photography, Pictures

Meeting Ducks for the First Time

Posted on by traci

Gaston, our puppy, and I had gone to drop off Oldest at school yesterday morning. When we dropped off Youngest an hour prior, it had been super foggy. So foggy that Oldest, who was in the car, told me that it reminded him of a horror movie. He was expecting some tentacles to drop out of the sky.

Since the drive to Oldest’s school is country roads, we opted to wait a little bit before driving him to school. Once we got to his school, the sky had changed from super foggy to a glorious blue sky.

Gaston had seen a duck once before from a distance. However, this was the first time he saw one up close. He kept trying to get to the ducks.

He also enjoyed meeting a few other dogs.

Dobby, our previous dog, was adventurous. Fortunately Gaston is the same way. He is going to love exploring places around our area this summer.

Have a blessed day,
Traci

Posted in Random, Randomness

Our Life was Turned Upside Down

Posted on by traci

While I was at the dietician’s office on Monday, Oldest called me. He had been in an accident. Even though his car had been hit, he was okay just shaken up.

He was getting ready to turn when a truck going straight through the light sped up. The driver of the truck clipped Oldest before hitting a pole. Since Nick had gone in the intersection, he was cited for failure to yield. As a result of the accident, the front driver’s side was demolished.

We are waiting on word from the juvenile court for when he is supposed to go to court. His license is probably suspended. However that doesn’t matter; because he doesn’t want to drive right now.

Now Hubby and I are driving him around. Luckily he is now on summer vacation, so I don’t have to drive the 20 minute commute back and forth to his school. However, he is working, so I have to drop him off and then pick him up. His job is only a 5 minute drive from our house which helps. The problem is he closes which means he is done at the earliest at 10:45 and at the latest 11:30. For a person who shuts down beginning at 9 pm, that is tough for me.

I’m leaving in a few weeks for my annual EPIC trip with my best friend/ chosen sister. He needs to get those rides lined up because I won’t be around to pick him up.

I drove him to school 2 times this week and then home 1 time. The only good thing about driving him was our puppy went with us. After dropping him off, we went for a walk in the town where his school is located. Gaston, our puppy, loved meeting ducks for the first time. That was fun to see him try to get at the ducks as they were swimming around. He didn’t get far because of the leash.

So how’s your summer going?

Have a blessed day,
Traci

Posted in menu plan monday, Menu planning, Recipes

Menu plan: May 24, 2021

Posted on by traci

Yesterday I went to see my dietician. We came up with a b rough plan for me eating. I’m dealing with disordered eating, trying to lose weight, and change of diet in the past month. I have moved back to eating a gluten free mostly vegetarian diet. My exception is seafood.

After meeting with her, I went home and wrote out a meal plan with items needed at the grocery store. Crossed out items are items I already have at home. Highlighted items were bought.

Well, the Kodiak cakes were a bust. I will change that to smoothies.

Posted in Random, Randomness

Be Present (How to Build Rapport Part 1)

Posted on by traci

I just ended my 21st year of teaching special education. One of my skill sets is the ability to build rapport with my students. Over the years I have realized that rapport cannot be forced or bought. Some students will be receptive towards creating a bond with their teacher while others are more reserved. I have many students who I have had rapport with while others I have taught and then they moved on without us truly developing any sort of rapport. Instead of seeing me as an ally who has their back, they saw me as a hindrance.

I’m going to begin a series where I’m going to talk about how to build rapport with students. I don’t know how many parts will be to this series because I keep coming up with more ways.

Be Present

Honestly I think this is one of the best ways to build rapport with students. Sometimes you need to put the computers, manipulatives, assignments, and even phones down and just show the students that you really care. If you are worrying about the next thing, the students won’t have your full attention. In this fast paced world of ours, we often don’t get the human connections that we crave. Being present and in moment with the students allows them to know you really care about them, their dreams, their worries, and/or their preferences. You learn who they are as a person and how they learn.

During virtual teaching, it was so hard to be present with students. Many times they were just black boxes with names on the screen. You could call their name a billion times with no response. Some of my best moments with students were the times we finished the work for the day and just talked to each other. I learned about their dog and their favorite dog who had died. During the year, I watched them blossom over the year. The young man went from wanting to get off the computer to play Fortnite to wanting to draw.

Join me next time for another strategy to help you develop rapport with students.

Stay kind!

Have a magical day,
Traci