I need my personal bubble!

I'm finding out how essential it is to create or set aside space to use for studying. It needs to be a place relatively free of distractions, and it should have enough open flat space for me to have room for my laptop, my binder, and my textbook. It would also need decent lighting or enough place for a small desk lamp. Ideally, it would also have room enough for my basic supplies as well (pens, pencils, highlighters, stapler, post-its, three-hole punch). Bonus points if there's wall space for me to tape/pin up reminders or important things to remember.

In all the excitement of starting school, this was the essential part of the planning that I missed. I didn't think to find a place for me to use for all the reading and paper writing I will be doing these next few years. And so, the first few days of the semester, I was playing guessing games, trying to figure out where I can go have lunch at work that I would be able to also use for studying and where I can work when I'm at home and want to study. I borrowed an empty office on Friday afternoon to have lunch and get some reading done. It was not a productive afternoon. The office shares a wall with a classroom that was being used at the time (I didn't find this out until I had been in there about 5 minutes); the person who works in that office also keeps his phone ringer at the maximum volume (I found that out after I had been in there about 10 minutes). Neither circumstance allowed me to keep my concentration for very long. I'm still trying to find out where I can go at work to study. I work in a library, but using it isn't an option; I don't have an office and as long as I am in here, I will be asked for assistance or to give information about the various services/activities that take place here. So the one place that students are able to retreat to I must shy away from. Fair? No, but I must find another option. What that is, I'm still not sure.

At least at home I have my workspace finally figured out. I spent Saturday night at my best friend's place and mentioned my study space quandry. "K" suggested that I try and use what I already have. She said that I should maybe try to use my kitchen table. Until yesterday, it had been a breeding ground for loose newspaper, bills, and old receipts. It is rarely used for its intended purpose. I hadn't considered that option until K mentioned it. After coming back home early yesterday afternoon, I immediately started cleaning off the table, pushed the table against the wall, and brought over some of my office supplies that had been boxed away until they were needed. Now I have something that resembles a desk/work space that I can use for serious study.

And of course I took the opportunity this weekend to cook and enjoy some good food. Sunday dinner (and this week's recipe) was green beans and sausage with some sourdough bread on the side. This recipe is one I created on my own. It's loosely based off of an Italian-style dish that my mother makes every Thanksgiving (and sometimes other days when my sister and I can convince her to make it again). This is a large batch, good for 4-6 people (I made extra for lunch today for me and Scooter).

What you'll need:
1 lb. sausage meat (loose, not in links)
2 lbs. green beans cut into inch-long pieces
5 8-oz. cans of tomato sauce
1/2 small onion, diced
5-6 large cloves of garlic
3 springs of fresh rosemary
3 sprigs of fresh oregano
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
3 sage leaves
1 1/2 Tbs. olive oil

What you'll need to do:
1. Put the garlic, rosemary, oregano, thyme, and sage into a wooden chopping bowl and chop them all up until everything is in small, fine pieces. You can also use a food processor for this step. Set the garlic-herb mixture aside.
2. In a large deep frying pan, cook the sausage meat over medium high heat until almost completely browned. Remove the sausage from the pan and set aside.
3. Add the olive oil to the bottom of the frying pan. Add the garlic-herb mixture and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the onion and saute 2-3 minutes more, until the garlic is just barely starting to brown. Add the tomato sauce and stir to mix everything together. Let it cook 1-2 minutes, then add the sausage. Let the sauce simmer for another 5 minutes.
4. Add the green beans and stir to coat them with the sauce. Cover the pan and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the beans are semi-soft (they should be slightly crunchy--not crisp--if you eat one). Serve hot with your favorite french bread on the side.

As you've heard me say about some of the other recipes I posted, this one is very adaptable. I love a lot of sauce, which is why I use 5 cans of it. You can cut back by 1 or 2 cans if you don't like your food to be quite so saucy. Also, you can omit the onions if you don't like them. I really recommend the fresh herbs like I used for this recipe; I sincerely believe that the flavor of fresh herbs is always superior to dried.

This is a true taste of Italian American cooking. Enjoy!

Ready...set...read!

Two days into the official start of the Fall Semester and I already feel like I'm behind. I've downloaded and organized the reading list and assignment list, and I poked around the class web page to get up to speed with finding everything. I bought a few supplies, put everything neatly into a binder, and filled in a day planner with important class stuff (when readings/assignments are due, class events, etc.). I even printed out two of the first week's reading assignments so that I can highlight and make notes like I usually do. Now that I see the lay of the land, my response to it is: what did I get myself into?

I was well aware in the theoretical sense that graduate classes are much harder and more work-intensive than undergraduate courses. I also knew in the small recesses of my mind that it would mean I would need to take more time per class that I had previously been used to. But somehow there seems to have been some difficulty in translating that into practical terms. Not now.

I'm almost overwhelmed by the amount of reading that will need to be done on a weekly basis. On top of that are the other assignments that I must complete to show my instructor that I know what I'm talking about (for lack of a better turn of phrase). I had originally planned to make Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights my school nights during the week (with weekends as additional schoolwork days). I think I may need to spend some time every week night doing a little bit more to get what I need done on time. Otherwise, I fear that I'll fall behind. Now I understand why organization and time management skills are so crucial to being successful in an online course.

I have to say that I'm a bit relieved that my instructor has decided to schedule Elluminate sessions on a weekly basis. For those not familiar with it, Elluminate is a program that allows for discussion and collaboration between people over the Internet, and it's rather like the webinar program I use here at work. I'm not sure what the "agenda" for these weekly Elluminate sessions will be. I doubt it will be a straight lecture. However, I look forward to being able to connect verbally with both my instructor and my classmates, and I intend to take full advantage by attending them.

I'm sure that once I get set in a routine and find my stride, things will even out a bit more and I'll be more comfortable with the work load. For now I'll do the best I can and try to keep up with my reading. Highlighters at the ready! On my mark, get set...READ!

A day at the lake

I start my second class in two days. I'm looking forward to it; I'll finally get to see what kind of work load to expect from the rest of my classes. I'm already planning to make Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights my school study nights. Of course I'll be working on school during the weekends too, but spreading out the work over several days a week will be infinitely better than two harried six or eight hour days during which I try to do everything that has to be done. Spreading it out will make me feel less overwhelmed and give me less of a reason to procrastinate, as I was wont to do sometimes during my undergraduate college days.

And so, with the rest of my semester close at hand, I took Sunday as my day off, my day to relax and enjoy. It didn't start out very well. My new laptop wouldn't turn on, so I spent an hour on the phone with Dell Technical Support only to find out that my hard drive is fried. The machine is brand new and I haven't done much except school work on it, so there's no real explanation as to why it died so quickly. Luckily most of my files are still on my old laptop that Scooter (my boyfriend by his pseudonym) now uses. The only exception to this is a school assignment that I had turned in. I learned an important lesson yesterday--always back up school files in another place. After the diagnosis was made for my poor laptop, they informed me that they would send another hard drive to me and I would have it Tuesday. Well, that's a piece a good news!

The rest of the morning was passed playing video games and watching DVDs with Scooter. The weather started warming up outside, promising a beautiful day that shouldn't be spent indoors. Scooter and I decided to make an early dinner, pack it up, and take it to a park with a lake that's near where we live. And what was the menu? Chicken enchiladas (a recipe I love given to me by my best friend), strawberries, root beer, and apple crisp. The food was made, packed into plastic containers, and we headed out to the lake. By this time it was hot outside, and I was ruing the fact that swimming was not allowed in the lake (it's a reservoir).

The lake was still busy, even though it was after 5pm. Families were having barbecues, people were walking their dogs, and there were even some fishermen and women out on the lake in boats enjoying the good weather with their favorite past time. Scooter and I found a spot down on the shore of the lake that was cool and shaded and had a wonderful view of the lake and the surrounding hills. The breeze coming off the water was heavenly and cooled us down after being in the hot sun; I stopped thinking about needing a swim. Even the ducks were friendly, paddling back and forth in the water in front of us, and even coming up on the shore to say hello and see if we had any apple crisp to share with them. Sadly, I am very possessive of any dessert, so there was no apple crisp to share; I doubt it would be very good for them anyway. It was very calming and soothing there on the edge of the water. The sounds of the tiny waves lapping against the shore was a music that I have missed lately. I don't think we'll wait as long to go back to the lake again.

And now for this week's recipe: apple crisp. I melded a couple of recipes together; I took the filling from the spoon cake recipe I posted not long ago, and the topping from the fruit crisp recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (and ad libbed as I sometimes do).

What you'll need:
4-5 medium apples
1 Tsp. cornstarch
1/4 c. + 2 Tsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. oats
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
3 Tbs. butter

What you'll need to do:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Peel and slice the apples. Put them in a large mixing bowl. Add the cornstarch, sugar, and cinnamon. Mix everything together until the dry ingredients are moistened and let the bowl sit for 10 minutes.
2. In another bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, flour, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Add the butter and mix everything together until the topping resembles crumbs.
3. Put the apple mixture into a pie tin. Cover with the topping. Put in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until it's bubbling.

It's a (relatively) simple and easy dessert to make. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream (or even a little unwhipped cream drizzled over it). It's a positively sweet way to start the week.