One of the first things they teach a new college student in "teacher college" is to no over use worksheets. In some classes it is even considered a form of blaspheme. Yet, there are times when doing worksheets are helpful. For example, teaching a reluctant 4-year-old how to write.

Either way, there is a time when a teacher (no matter where the learning is taking place) needs a good worksheet. 

Last year I found a great site on Pinterest that made handwriting worksheets. And, in true Sara style, I didn't save the link. Now I can't find that site to save my life. 

Here is where google came to the rescue. I did a couple of nifty searches to find a site that would take what I typed and turn it into dotted lines for my son. I ended up finding worksheetsworks.com

The best thing about this site is that a person can create and print more than just handwriting worksheets for their "students." In my case I used this site to create cursive handwriting worksheets for my 5th grade students and basic handwriting sheets for my preschooler and his classmates. 

After doing some exploring, there are a lot more supplemental sheets I can use to help both my son and my students.  I don't get to share too many free things with people on the wide web, but I'm thrilled to share this one. 

This is one of our family staple recipes. Most people call it Shepard's Pie. However, my father dubbed it Garbage years ago. 

Why?

He started calling it garbage because my mother would take all of the left over veggies in the fridge and throw it in with some ground beef and give it to us with a side of mashed potatoes. 

That's pretty much what this is, or at least what it could be. Considering I live in the house with a hollow legged child (shown on the right) we rarely have left overs anymore. 

This is such a filling meal it is great for using up left overs and for families on a budget. 
here is what I end up doing:

What you'll need:

• 1 - 2lbs of Ground beef. We usually go the 2lb route.
• 1 Onion chopped
• 1 Green Pepper, chopped
• 1 - 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 8 potatoes boiled, and mashed
• Frozen mixed or left over veggies 
• 2 cups cheese (we like a lot of cheese, you can use less if you prefer.)
• 1/2 cup of milk
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Order of Operations:

1. In a large skillet fry the onion, green pepper, garlic salt and pepper, and meat.
2. Boil and mash the potatoes at the same time.
3. While everything is cooking take your veggies and rinse or defrost them in the sink. I usually just run warm water over frozen veggies for this.

4.     Once the potatoes are cooked and mashed and the meat, onion, green peppers, and garlic are fried, mix the veggies and meat mixture together in a greased 10 inch round deep pie pan. (Word to the Wise:  Place the pie pan on top of a cookie sheet with raised sides. It makes it easier to clean later.)

5.     Cover the mixture with the mashed potatoes.

6.      Cover the mashed potatoes with the two cups of shredded cheese.

7.    Pour the milk on top of it all and baked in the oven for 30-45 minutes.

You'll know it is done when the cheese is not just melted, but starting to brown on the edges.  The end product is a beautiful cheese lava topped meal with manly mix on the inside. 

Considering I live with only males, the manly mix in the center is a perfect meal for our family. 

For the past couple of days I have felt motivated to start writing again. Awhile ago I had a couple of blogs that I was working on. Yet, as time became more sparse my blog fell by the wayside. Eventually it came to represent someone who is not me anymore. My blog was stuck in a time-warp. 

That sent me on a new task of self-discovery again. Before, when I first started my blog, I was a soon-to-be first time mother, part-time working teacher at an Urban school district, and I spent most of my time at home. Now I only have my weekends to work on pet projects and even those get side tracked.

Before I was a home schooling mother of a toddler. Now my son attends pre-school where I teach. I was able to enjoy my time watching and working with him. Now, a lot of my time is spent preparing lesson plans (that are not usually used) and going through different work material for my students. 

I was able to take a look back at the person I was and the person I have become and decided I didn't like her. I don't like me now. I need to find who I really am again. I have an idea, but I need to adapt who I am to who He is. Then I will let Him turn me into who I need to be where I am at. 

I hope that the blog-o-sphere can enjoy fun times with  me, laugh at my mistakes, and walk with me through a life being rebuilt, one small chip at a time.