Teacher gifts

I'm normally not a procrastinator but it seems like this month has flown by and here we are end of the school year, Max moves up to a new class next week and I have done nothing for the wonderful teachers he has spent the past 9 months with.  What to do?  Naturally, I fire up my favorite seach engine (Google) and look at images of teacher gifts (many of which I already have on my Pintrest).  I decide it would be fun to make their teacher gifts together.  I started regretting this decision about the time I was cleaning up the paint from the canvas project and Max moved on to the frame (by himself) and opened the super glue by himself and got it all over his hands.  However, seeing the finished projects I realize it was well worth it to give a homemade gift and have memories of the fun making them.  Below is the crayon frame for Miss Vasso the part time teacher in his classroom...

And the canvas for Miss Marie (Ree Ree) is a 16x20 with vinyl moveable letters (in the stencil section at Hobby Lobby) stick on the words to whatever you want it to say, paint a base coat (I did blue) then him and I went crazy with small paint brushes...

Then peeled off the letters for the finished product...

Then as if that wasn't enough fun for one evening I decided to make ahead dinner for tomorrow's weekly happy hour al fresco with Amber and Brook while dancing and singing (that's a normal occurance at our house).  However, I feel I need to add a note about Max and my impeccable comedic timing.  While singing and dancing to Chamillionare's "Ridin Dirty" which in itself is funny, especially when Max just repeats "ridin dirty, ridin dirty" over and over again, Max decides to do gator rolls over his Sponge Bob punching bag and exclaims "look mommy, I rollin" to which I rebutted "I'm not hatin".  If you know the song you will understand...or just think I'm cheesy.

Gluten Free Buffalo Mac and Cheese



5 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the dish

salt

1 pound gluten free macaroni (I used quinoa)

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken

2 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup hot sauce 

2 tablespoons all-purpose gluten free flour

2 teaspoons dry mustard

2 1/2 cups half-and-half

1 pound yellow sharp cheddar cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 3 1/2 cups)

8 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)

2/3 cup sour cream  

1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (make sure its gluten free)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 7 minutes. Drain.

Meanwhile, melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken and garlic and cook 2 minutes, then add 1/2 cup hot sauce and simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 more minute.


Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour and mustard with a wooden spoon until smooth. Whisk in the half-and-half, then add the remaining 1/4 cup hot sauce and stir until thick, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the cheddar and pepper jack cheeses, then whisk in the sour cream until smooth.


Spread half of the macaroni in the prepared baking dish, then top with the chicken mixture and the remaining macaroni. Pour the cheese sauce evenly on top.


Sprinkle blue cheese over the macaroni and bake until bubbly, 30 to 40 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

NEW!!!

So I said I would do it so here we go.  Not quite sure how this all works yet or what exactly I am going to do but as part of my 100 things to do in my 30s #45 looks like the first thing I can cross off of my list.  I can imagine that most will be Maxisms and successful gluten free recipes as the name would suggest but maybe I can pick up a few more hobbies along the way.  Among those things will be my 100 things to do in my 30s which I am including below and seeing as I have 99 to go, I think I should have plenty to talk about.

1.         Try Acupuncture

2.        Travel to Brazil to visit family

3.        Zip Line

4.        Try Self-Hypnosis

5.        Learn about dream interpretation

6.        Scuba Dive

7.        Be in a dunking booth

8.        Hold a 10 foot snake

9.        Join the mile high club

10.     Romantically watch the sunset then the sunrise with someone

11.     Learn to play a song on a guitar

12.     Go to Disney World, Disney Land, and on a Disney Cruise

13.     Sing karaoke in a crowded bar

14.     Go camping in a tent in the wilderness

15.     Go kayaking on a river

16.     Learn to play golf

17.     Go deep sea fishing

18.     Go ice fishing

19.     Go fishing in the river and learn to take my own fish off the hook

20.     Enter a cooking contest

21.     Go at least topless at a nude beach

22.     Get completely head to toe muddy after a good rain

23.     Go deer hunting

24.     Do a “dining in the dark” experience

25.     Go snowmobiling

26.     Sumo suit wrestle

27.     Go horseback riding

28.     Swim a mile (used to be easy)

29.     Start some kind of business selling something

30.     Do an unsolicited good deed to for at least 10 strangers

31.     Learn archery

32.     Plant a tree

33.     Learn sign language

34.     Relearn how to water ski

35.     See a show at the House of Blues

36.     Learn to sew

37.     Bet on a dog race

38.     Go hiking in a rainforest

39.     Have sex on the beach

40.     Go on a motorcycle trip

41.     Do a polar bear swim

42.     Splash in puddles in the middle of a downpour

43.     Sleep on the beach

44.     Ride in a dune buggy

45.     Start a blog

46.     Sleep in an overnight train

47.     No electronics for an entire weekend

48.     Go to the Kentucky Derby

49.     Throw a masquerade party

50.     Relearn how to drive a manual car

51.     Get recertified for CPR

52.     Own a boat

53.     Go to Talladega

54.     Go ghost hunting in a known haunted place

55.     Visit a wine vineyard

56.     Attend the Olympics

57.     Learn to use chop sticks

58.     Build a tree house

59.     Own a dog

60.     Start a journal (even if just things thankful for that day)

61.     Skinny dip in a large body of water

62.     Have a night time candle lit picnic

63.     Take a cake making class

64.     Learn to grill

65.     Take a picture with all best friends (barely have any pics of friends)

66.     Go snow skiing

67.     Become a vegetarian for one month

68.     Create a scavenger hunt adventure

69.     Go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras

70.     Ride a mechanical bull

71.     Watch everything on my Netflix Queue

72.     Learn how to change oil and rotate/change tires

73.     Write a gluten free cook book

74.     Have an all day spa day

75.     Take up yoga

76.     Swim in a natural hot spring

77.     Go to a scary haunted house

78.     Ride the incline railway

79.     Go to a famous museum

80.     Learn to play pool and actually hit the ball

81.     Have a wine cellar

82.     See someone give birth

83.     Visit a Distillery

84.     Experience jury duty

85.     Participate in a paintball war

86.     Host a Dinner for Schmucks

87.     Watch a tropical storm roll in

88.     Sunrise walk on the beach

89.     Set up a projector for a movie showing in the back yard

90.     Bury someone in the sand (except for their head of course)

91.     Participate in a beer pong tournament (not in mine or my friends house)

92.     Bet on a turtle race (Rob and Big style)

93.     Go snow tubing

94.     Have a water balloon fight

95.     Cliff dive

96.     See the Grand Canyon

97.     Hike one of the trails on the mountain

98.     Act my murder mystery I wrote

99.     Send flowers randomly to someone as a thank you

100.  Get my ears pierced