Flamboyant art instructor job in Vegas... any takers?

Lately our life has taken unexpected turns, and we are now back in the job hunting process. I've felt relatively calm about it up until this evening, and tonight I had my first real panicked thoughts. This led me to the contemplation of whether I could get a job that would provide for our family in the event that Ryan didn't find one.

Yes, I am fully aware that I picked a field of study that does not easily result in high paying jobs. I knew that when I picked it. I knew it when I decided to finish it. I guess I've always had faith that Ryan would be able to take care of us with his bachelors and masters degree in a relatively good field, and I still have that faith... but, I did consider tonight the possibility of art teaching jobs that may pay enough to take care of a family.

I don't think they exist, hahahaha. We would both have to work, and we may have to do that.

However, I did find one job that made me smile. The job was for an art instructor position at a hotel/casino in Vegas, for a class offered as a sort of entertainment type draw for the hotel. The "art instructor" would have to learn choreographed dances, and be very flamboyant in personality. The way the ad described the position, it was quite clear that the hotel was looking for the cliche flamboyant homosexual without actually coming out and saying that is what they wanted. I just found the ad to be rather amusing, and it made me want to go watch this “art class” sometime just for entertainment sake.

For the record, I did find several art school positions for teachers in Portland OR and Washington state that sounded pretty fun, but they were part-time type positions. I’m thinking that wherever we do end up I would like to maybe take on a part time position teaching figure drawing.

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Lasagna~The best lasagna recipe you will EVER make. Seriously.

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Lasagna

1 box lasagna noodles

1 to 2 lbs hamburger

2 cups chopped fresh spinach

2 cloves garlic, minced

Half of a 15 oz container Ricotta cheese

4 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack or Mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup milk

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp salt split

1/2 tsp pepper split

1 tbsp basil split

1 tbsp oregano split

1 1/2 can/jar spaghetti sauce (26 oz size jar/can)

Directions
Pre-heat over to 375
Boil your noodles. Adding a little oil to the water helps keep them from gluing together. Drain water, and if needed (if you are not immediately using) spray with cooking oil spray to keep them from sticking.

Brown your hamburger. I add some of the seasonings to my hamburger as it cooks, such as: pepper, oregano, basil, and garlic (this is why I put "split" in the ingredients list. I put half in the white cheese sauce and half in the meat. for the garlic, I would put a tiny amount of garlic powder in the white sauce, and put the fresh garlic in the red sauce. If all I have is garlic powder, I do it for both the meat and the white cheese sauce. I don't know the exact measurement and I'm afraid of guessing). After draining excess oil, add spaghetti sauce and heat till simmering.

Mix together all of the cheeses, milk, and the spices. I stick mine in the microwave long enough to get it melted so it spreads on nicely, but that is not necessary.

Spoon some of the red sauce on the bottom of the 9 x 13 dish. Then spread a little of the white cheese sauce on the bottom as well. Put down your first layer of 4 noodles. Then put more red sauce and meat. Shred a thin layer of cheese (white or yellow, your pick) over the meat, then lay down another layer of noodles. Spread on some of the white cheese sauce, and then sprinkle on some of the spinach. repeat layers. on the top put the remaining red sauce. then put the remaining white sauce. Sprinkle a small amount of Monterrey or mozzarella on top. Sprinkle a light amount of Parmesan on top.  Bake for approximately 20-30 minutes covered, and then remove the tin foil and bake another 5 minutes. you want to see the sauce boiling when you take it out and all of the cheese on top melted and maybe even beginning to barely brown.

Ryan loves lasagna, so we have made it a great deal over the last 8 years. He is very picky about his lasagna. He doesn't want anything weird or funny in it. His ideal lasagna is noodles, a can/jar of spaghetti sauce, hamburger,  and cheddar cheese-- without anything else added in. Even spices. I do not like this recipe, and over the years I dislike it more and more. But he loves it and so I most often make it. But occasionally I'll try to tweak it.

I recently figured out this recipe, and the kids and Ryan love it. Ryan agreed it was the best I had ever made. I honestly do not measure things out when I cook, so I did my best to estimate the spices in order to share it on here with you. If you do not like a lot of spices, than add a little less of each than I did. You can always add more the next time you make it if it's too bland. I made it with tomatoes tonight, but I won't do that again because I didn't like how it turned out. I made it tonight to try and get some food into Violet because she isn't eating as well as I would like, and I know she loves lasagna... but she just picked at it tonight. I tried, right? :)

Stuff

I drove my sister to a wedding of one of her friends in Rexburg Saturday, and after dropping her off went over to campus to walk around for a moment and eat lunch. These pictures show what I miss about BYU-I. I didn't think I missed school anymore, but apparently I was wrong. I stepped in the Taylor and a wave of memories hit me. Surprisingly, I didn't have quite the same reaction to the art building (the Spori) as much as the Taylor (it was the religion building, and we had church meetings there as well).

If I were to do it all over again, I think I would pick horticulture as my major. 

I do really miss having the open studios to go paint/draw in. A wave of nostalgia hit me when I entered the studio rooms. 

  

 Two of my favorite pieces of art (currently hanging in the Taylor), by one of my past (now retired) teachers, Brother Bird.

 I do not miss these drawing horses. I actually got back pain just by looking at it... lol

 My clematis is beautiful. Granted it is only about 5-6 inches high, but still, I love the color.

Iris's looking beautiful.

 cuddling on the couch waiting for Aunt Stephanie to show up.

 I was grateful for all the help painting our house. I messed up picking the color, and it wasn't what I had thought it would be, but it looks much better than it did.

 I was washing sheets and came in to find hunter all cutely curled up on my clean sheet-less bed... yeah, he got booted, but not until after I took a picture. I found Tinker curled up in my sock drawer, and they both got thrown outside.

Does anyone else have trouble getting their kid to eat? Violet won't eat enough, and then either wakes up during the night starving, or wakes up super cranky and hungry in the morning. But she won't eat. One day she will act like a certain dish is her favorite and eat it up so fast. The next time I make it she won't even touch it. Yesterday she didn't eat lunch or dinner. I even relented and gave her a second option of scrambled eggs for dinner which she ate maybe 3 bites of before saying she was done. So, around 3 in the morning she woke up hungry. I gave her some milk and brought her into bed with me because she wouldn't stop crying. Around 4 I could feel her little hand patting me on my back very sweetly. It was clear she wasn't going to go to sleep because she was still hungry. So, I got up and gave her a yogurt which she only ate half of. Luckily she ate oatmeal and a banana for breakfast today... and only a string cheese for lunch. My mother-in-law always says that a kid will eat when they are hungry and won't starve if food is put in front of them, but I wonder if Violet wants to prove that theory wrong. All morning she laid around with her blanket and binki, and I don't know if it's just cause or if she doesn't have the energy cause she won't eat. 

flowers

 I highly recommend this ground cover--Orchid Frost lamium. It's beautiful and spreads fast enough to fill in perfectly. And, it remains green all year round.

Exterior

This next weekend we are painting our house to get it ready to sell, and I am still worried about what color scheme to do. I know the basic color scheme, I just keep changing my mind about what exact color of beige I want-- one with more red in it? more gray? I'm leaning heavily towards this scheme though:

It's a very happy color... I know I want a light brown like color, with white windows (ours have panes, so they they will be white), possibly black trim around the windows (if I had shutters, they would be black), white railings on the porch, and a reddish-brown door. I'm going to paint the screen door as well, because it would be silly to have a reddish-brown door, with a big old white screen door in front of it. Disclaimer... my house looks nothing like the house in the above picture :)

What to do?

(scroll down for pictures--I promise it's not all words :) ) I am an ambitious person. I always have huge plans. Huge. Sometimes too huge... Especially with my yard. Take into consideration that when we moved in, the back yard was almost completely dead, with zero plants or trees. And the front yard had itty bitty flower beds that consisted of poorly taken care of, weed infested roses and an ugly fern thingy. So, what I've accomplished in three years is pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. As I was putting in plastic borders today in the back yard to keep the grass out of the gladiolas, I realized I'm exhausted, and I don't think I want to do much more yard work other than maintaining what I've already done. I had plans to put in more borders, but I feel so overwhelmed with everything else, I thought (this morning) that maybe I could call it good, and just concentrate on weeding and mulching.. what do you think?

 the dirt in this picture will be peas... I planted them late this year and they haven't yet come up. I'm considering moving the irises to an empty spot in the front yard.

 The raspberries. I still need to tie them up into nice rows. I was going to surround them with a plastic border to keep them from spreading, but the next owner can do that........right? You can barely see my lilac tree, to the right of the raspberries. It bloomed, and smells so good (last year it didn't bloom).

 This spot looks terribly ugly right now, along the fence. It is where I put in the plastic border today. It will have hollyhocks (which get to 10 ft tall!) all along the fence, and directly in front of the holly hocks are two rows of gladiolas (which get to about 3 feet tall and are gorgeous). Ryan still needs to finish staining the fence. That tree was a discount tree, and therefore has attempted to die. It's alive and thriving this year, just a little lopsided, lol.

 more of the hollyhocks.

 Ryan built this pergola, and one side has wisteria and the other has clamatis. they are still both itty bitty. plus irises on each side as well. You can also see the garden spot, as well as the spot directly in front of the garage door. I removed a ton of asphalt from that area, and a couple weeks ago we removed the dirt and brought in good dirt, and are going to be planting grass this week. I also planted a hosta on either side of the garage door.

 the front yard. The irises are finally starting to look nice that I planted along the neighbors driveway. The Dogwood is barely beginning to get ready to flower. I got ambitious a couple of weeks ago and (not knowing we were going to be moving) decided to kill another section of grass along the fence in order to plant gladiolas and ground cover. unfortunately the gladiolas were sold out, so I put in some phlox and daylilies. Hopefully they will pop up soon. And I transplanted my ground cover around it too, and put in some plastic borders.

 the mass of ground cover that i'm transplanting around the yard. I'm planning on putting some stepping stones (that I already have) where this ground cover is at the moment, so there will be a nice path to the back gate through the flowers. I had beautiful roses all around the porch, and they were just getting healthy and gorgeous by last fall... and then this winter was so cold that they did not fare well. They are still alive, but only the new shoots at the bases, not the bushes. it was so sad. I left them and hopefully in a couple months they will look decent.

 there are two hostas and some ground cover in the corner, and I think I'm going to transplant some of my lily of the valley to this corner as well. Then there are the tulips and poppies that you can currently see, and when they die off for the season we have phlox and irises. and my purple ground cover. that stuff is amazing, it spreads nicely, and flowers all summer long. plus, if you don't have a severely cold winter, it remains green all winter long.

another of the front gate. hopefully the flower will pop up quickly. So, I have tons of weeding to do. And I would like to put mulch everywhere to minimize the amount of weeding I have to do and to make the beds look nicer. Can I just call it quits after that?? I'll post pictures in a month or so when it's all in bloom.

Balanced Rock and other fun news.

We have definitely been keeping busy. We went on a camping trip to Balanced Rock in Idaho a couple weekends ago. The canyon we camped in was gorgeous.

Then there is the never ending housework, yard work, homework, and remodeling. Ryan received a very good job offer this last week for a controller position in Ontario OR, so in a week he will temporarily move in with Brandon and JaNae and commute home on the weekends until we can get the house ready to sell. We are very, very excited about this new adventure. Now comes the stressful part of getting the house ready, trying to finish and graduate by July, and everything else. But, we are soooooo very happy about this job. I literally started jumping up and down yelling when Ryan told me he got it. :)

 Ethan loves Brandon and JaNae very much. He was very excited when I told him we were moving closer to them. Almost made him forget about leaving his friends... but not quite. I decided to avoid the conversation and instead talk about happy things like his birthday party he wants that he has been talking about for a year.

 Ethan was sick and Violet wanted to cuddle. She was sick the week before. The joys of nursery--someone brought their kid to church sick and the whole nursery had the flu the rest of the week. I got it from Violet, and then Ethan got it. Today everyone is finally feeling better, hopefully Ryan avoided it.