The End

The superintendent talked again to Mr. Christensen today. They had a discussion about what is best for his career. Mr. Christensen has decided that it is best if he moves to Chess next year. It ultimately will be the best for his career. He is overwhelmed with gratitude at the response that we had in our petition. I don't think he knew how much he was loved. He asked me to thank everyone for their support and I know that he will do a great job at his new school. I guess we have to share him and hope that maybe one day we will see him again at Maya. Thank you everyone for helping me in this campaign! Now who wants to help me with a send off party for Mr. Christensen?!?

Progress...

I had a phone call this afternoon from Saundra Hill, the superintendent.

It was a good phone call.

Positive things were said about Mr. Christensen. I guess we are not the only ones who really like him.

Here is what it came down to, she said she will ask Mr. Christensen what he wants to do. She implied that he will have the opportunity to stay at Maya in the full time VP position. She also implied that it might slow down his progression to be a principal, because apparently they need more experience at multiple elementaries before they can be moved up. But ultimately it will be his choice.

Which is should have been in the beginning.

Good job team. We did good work. I will let you know what happens.

Please take a moment...

Firestorm for Mr. Christensen:
Please take a moment to copy and paste this form letter to your email and send an email to these people, this is the superintendent for Pasco school district and the board. We need them to recognize that we are serious about the request for Mr. Christensen to stay at Maya:

shill@psd1.org
wvleggett@psd1.org
jdong@psd1.org
rperalta@psd1.org
rbrault@psd1.org

Dear Sir or Madame,

My son/daughter is a student at Maya Angelou Elementary. We have had a positive experience with our vice principal, Eric Christensen.

Recently I have learned that Mr. Christensen is going to be moved to a different school next year. Please consider changing your decision and allowing Mr. Christensen to stay at Maya. He has had a positive effect in the school and would be a disappointment to lose.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Let's make a difference!

I have been busy today.  I have been calling people, emailing people, and talking to many people in person.  I have a cause.  It is a good cause.

Sims started kindergarten this year at our local school Maya Angelou.  It was so exciting to have him go to the "big kids school".  I immediately wanted to get involved and signed up with the PTO.  I took over the box top program and took off.  It has been fun, rewarding and exciting.  I love working with the teachers and the school.

It was super exciting to me this year to learn that Mr. Christensen was our new vice principal.  I have been a fan of his for a while and respect and admire his teaching ability.  I was so happy that our school could have the opportunity for good through him.

He did not disappoint.  Mr. Christensen was at every PTO meeting, he was at every school function, he brought in new ideas (one being using the box top worksheets that we send out monthly that has increased our box top earning by 50%!).  He has been involved with the students as a leader.  The students love him and look up to him.  He loves the kids too.  He brought to Maya the opportunity to participate in new programs and even brought a fun new assembly to the school for the kids.

Overall for his first year he has gone above and beyond!  Kids love him, teachers love him, parents love him.

So imagine my surprise and sadness when I learned that Pasco School District has decided to move him to another school next year.  They are changing his position to be a full time vice principal position and have decided to give the position to someone with more "seniority".

SO NOT OK.

Really???  PSD is going to take away a loved vice principal for seniority reasons????  They have decided to change yet again the administration in a school that needs and deserves a constant.  He has shown his excellence, why not reward it?  Because he is lower on the totem pole?

SO NOT OK!

So my friends join me in my cause to KEEP MR. CHRISTENSEN at Maya!  I have started an online petition.  Sign it.  Tell your friends to sign it.  Tell your neighbors to sign it.  Tell your husband or wife to sign it.  This is not ok for PSD to do to our school.  Let's unite to keep a good thing that will just get even better!  Help me spread the word.  I believe we can do this.  I will keep this blog updated on our progress.

Right now I have 55 signatures.  I am going before the Board meeting on Tuesday night.  Wouldn't it be cool to have 200 signatures??  Post the link on face book.  Let's do this.  We cannot let this happen.  Thank you for your support!

Change.org|Free Online Petitions

Let's try it out!

Matt and I went over our monthly spending...never a fun thing to do...but what it boiled down to is that I spend TOO MUCH money grocery shopping. I think what happens is that I often "run" to the store to get something for dinner and then get distracted and pick up a little something here and there and that adds up!

So what I determined was that I need to not go to the store so often! So here is the plan...I'm going to plan out my meals for a month so that I can be prepared and cut down on shopping. So here is my meals for a month:

Every friday is Pizza night (homemade pizza or Little Cesears $5 pizza)
Every Sunday is family dinner (I only have to cook once a month for family dinner!)

Meatball subs with homemade Hoagie rolls
Chicken Fajitas/mexican rice
French Dip sandwiches/fresh fruit/salad
Ranch Chicken/Salad
Spaghetti/breadsticks/salad
Egg Mcmuffin/smoothie
Roasted Chicken/salad/fresh fruit
Taco Salad
White chicken chili/breadsticks
Lasagna/breadsticks/salad
Cheese steak salad/steak fries
Hawaiin Haystacks
Chipotle Beef Taquitos/mexican beans
Crispy Coconut chicken fingers/oven baked steak fries
Cafe Rio sweet pork/salad
Norweigen Pancakes/fresh fruit

Most of these recipes are from my new favorite cookbook: "Our Best Bites" I bought it at costco!

I can share any recipes if you are interested in something let me know and I will post it! Here is the recipe for one of our favorite Chicken recipes:

Ranch Chicken (from Kim Robison's cookbook...this is a great cookbook!)
3/4 cup cornflakes, crushed
3/4 cup grated parmesean cheese (I use the stuff in a bottle)
1 pkg ranch salad dressing mix
8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup butter, melted

In a shallow bowl, combine cornflakes, parmesean cheese and salad dressing mix. Dip Chicken in the melted butter, then roll in cornflake mixture to coat. Place chicken breasts in a greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Bake uncovered, at 350 for 40 minutes or until chicken juices run clear.

This is a lion house recipe.

Happy dinnering!

If ye shall prepare ye shall not fear

Have you ever watched the movie Contagion? Not that great of movie, but it got me thinking again about food storage. If all those people in the movie had food storage, they wouldn't have such a dramatic movie...there would be no killing, stealing, etc. People would be prepared.

So...my new resolution for 2013 is to work on my food storage and I want to invite you to join me!

I am going to do a few things a month so here is January Food Storage for you:

Long Term Food Storage:
Vegetable oil-
2 gallons per adult/year
1 gallon per child/year

So my family needs 7 gallons of vegetable oil for my long term food storage (why start with oil? Because I am completely out!)

I am going to buy mine at Costco. If you know of a better deal let me know!

Short Term Food Storage:

I was told the easiest way to do this storage is to pick a recipe that uses mostly canned goods and then stock up on those items so you can have them for a 3 month supply. So I am going to choose 1 recipe a month and get all the things I need for that recipe to make it 8 times. Why 8? Because if I do one recipe a month then I will have 12 recipes for the year, if I get 8 of each item, I will have a 90 day supply of dinners.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie
1 and 1/2 cup cubed or shredded chicken ( I am going to use 1 can of chicken)
1 15oz can veg-all mixed vegetables
2 cans cream of potato soup
1/2 cup milk (I have powdered milk in my long term food supply or you can use evaporated milk...)
1/2 tsp pepper
2 pie crusts (see below)

Combine ingredients; pour into pie crust. Cover with top crust and crimp edges to seal, put 4 slits on top.

Bake at 375 for 45 min.

Pie Crust

2 cups all purpose flour (long term food supply)
1 tsp salt (long term food supply)
1 cup shortening (long term food supply)
1/2 cup water (big huge drums of water in my garage :)

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water until mixture forms a ball. Divide dough in half and shape into balls. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or over night.

Roll dough on a floured counter.

Shopping List for 90 day supply:
8 cans cooked chicken
8 cans veg-all mixed vegetables
16 cans cream of potato soup
4 cans evaporated milk (if you don't have powdered milk in food storage)

The rest I already have in my long term food supply! So there you have it...easy as pie (get it, man I am funny). This is actually my absolute favorite recipe for chicken pot pie too, so it is also delicious! See ya next month!