my schedule, Kay's schedule, and baking
as crazy as i thought this month would be for me, it's slowly turning out to become a nice balance between working and life at home.
i'd been getting a lot of offers lately since i'd been looking for other students after i dropped a couple of private sessions. it got to the point where i could have had all 7 mornings of the week filled with classes like i did in August. although after talking it over with hubby, we decided to give me and Kay a couple of days off in the week from teaching just to keep the stress levels down and to give me some sane time to rest. i'll admit that August really wasn't worth all the time i was investing into my classes...
so now, i'm teaching mostly classes of 3-5 kids five times a week. the only days i'm giving myself off are Tuesdays and Fridays, which have done wonders for my brain and body this past week. i didn't realize how tired i was from thinking all the time, not to mention how wound up and tense my body was.
you know how your body is fine when you're in overdrive, but the moment you relax, your body just kind of breaks down? that's kinda what happened to me this past Tuesday. i guess i've been using the computer and lugging stuff around (bookbag + props + whiteboard + Kay = 50-60 lbs) every day so much that my shoulders and neck were really getting messed up. there was one point after Tuesday where one side of my neck and shoulders was just pins and needles for half of the day. i thought i'd torn a nerve or dislodged a disc or something :/ thank gawd it improved after much rest and nice hot showers...
we've also been trying to change Kay's schedule so that she gets to bed earlier. basically, we took out her remaining afternoon nap, which lets her zonk out at around 7:30-8:00. it's been an up and down experience for all of us since she gets crankier in the afternoon and evenings without her nap. therefore, she stays home more often which cuts down on her exercising outdoors with daddy time. Also because of the cut down of her daddy time, her Japanese hasn't improved as fast as her English or even Mandarin has. yea, everything is connected in our family. :P so, we plan on going back to her usual schedule of a nap in the afternoon to recharge her batteries for an evening out with daddy.
on a side note, i baked my first batch of what was meant to be sugar cookies but turned out to be butter cookies (shortbread) instead. :) since hubby brought out our convection oven and put it on a nice shelf, i've been thinking about baking more often. Kay and i were at home in the afternoon yesterday while hubby was out meeting with a client, so i decided to try my hand at some cookies simple enough with the ingredients i had in my fridge (butter, sugar and flour). so, i searched online and found this recipe (it's Recipe #4). Kay helped with the mixing and kneading of the dough,and 30 min. later, we had a small batch cooling on our kitchen counter. when i took them out of the oven, i knew they weren't gonna taste like the subway sugar cookies since they looked like those butter shortbread cookies my hubby likes to eat. he came back just in time to taste them too. his first reaction: "wah! umai!" which was followed by "you made these??" ^_^ i was glad he liked them since they tasted exactly like the Walkers brand of cookies, but i was kinda disappointed that they didn't taste like the sugar cookies i wanted. i also felt extremely unhealthy, like i'm going to have a heart attach unhealthy, after eating them since we were basically eating half a stick of butter... :(
the reason why i couldn't follow a regular sugar cookie recipe was, because i didn't have baking soda or powder. i know that if you don't have an ingredient when baking, your end product will be crap. baking is a science and cooking is an art. you can omit stuff when you cook, but not when you bake :P i'm gonna go and try and find some baking soda or powder because it seems to be in almost all cookie recipes... i'll post pics of my batch of cookies when i have time. :) i think i'm going to try this recipe (the second one) next time. wish me luck! :D
i'd been getting a lot of offers lately since i'd been looking for other students after i dropped a couple of private sessions. it got to the point where i could have had all 7 mornings of the week filled with classes like i did in August. although after talking it over with hubby, we decided to give me and Kay a couple of days off in the week from teaching just to keep the stress levels down and to give me some sane time to rest. i'll admit that August really wasn't worth all the time i was investing into my classes...
so now, i'm teaching mostly classes of 3-5 kids five times a week. the only days i'm giving myself off are Tuesdays and Fridays, which have done wonders for my brain and body this past week. i didn't realize how tired i was from thinking all the time, not to mention how wound up and tense my body was.
you know how your body is fine when you're in overdrive, but the moment you relax, your body just kind of breaks down? that's kinda what happened to me this past Tuesday. i guess i've been using the computer and lugging stuff around (bookbag + props + whiteboard + Kay = 50-60 lbs) every day so much that my shoulders and neck were really getting messed up. there was one point after Tuesday where one side of my neck and shoulders was just pins and needles for half of the day. i thought i'd torn a nerve or dislodged a disc or something :/ thank gawd it improved after much rest and nice hot showers...
we've also been trying to change Kay's schedule so that she gets to bed earlier. basically, we took out her remaining afternoon nap, which lets her zonk out at around 7:30-8:00. it's been an up and down experience for all of us since she gets crankier in the afternoon and evenings without her nap. therefore, she stays home more often which cuts down on her exercising outdoors with daddy time. Also because of the cut down of her daddy time, her Japanese hasn't improved as fast as her English or even Mandarin has. yea, everything is connected in our family. :P so, we plan on going back to her usual schedule of a nap in the afternoon to recharge her batteries for an evening out with daddy.
on a side note, i baked my first batch of what was meant to be sugar cookies but turned out to be butter cookies (shortbread) instead. :) since hubby brought out our convection oven and put it on a nice shelf, i've been thinking about baking more often. Kay and i were at home in the afternoon yesterday while hubby was out meeting with a client, so i decided to try my hand at some cookies simple enough with the ingredients i had in my fridge (butter, sugar and flour). so, i searched online and found this recipe (it's Recipe #4). Kay helped with the mixing and kneading of the dough,and 30 min. later, we had a small batch cooling on our kitchen counter. when i took them out of the oven, i knew they weren't gonna taste like the subway sugar cookies since they looked like those butter shortbread cookies my hubby likes to eat. he came back just in time to taste them too. his first reaction: "wah! umai!" which was followed by "you made these??" ^_^ i was glad he liked them since they tasted exactly like the Walkers brand of cookies, but i was kinda disappointed that they didn't taste like the sugar cookies i wanted. i also felt extremely unhealthy, like i'm going to have a heart attach unhealthy, after eating them since we were basically eating half a stick of butter... :(
the reason why i couldn't follow a regular sugar cookie recipe was, because i didn't have baking soda or powder. i know that if you don't have an ingredient when baking, your end product will be crap. baking is a science and cooking is an art. you can omit stuff when you cook, but not when you bake :P i'm gonna go and try and find some baking soda or powder because it seems to be in almost all cookie recipes... i'll post pics of my batch of cookies when i have time. :) i think i'm going to try this recipe (the second one) next time. wish me luck! :D