We're Building a House!

When Bob and I made the decision to move to the St. Louis area last year, we knew we didn't want to buy a house while we still owned one nor did we want to commit to an area we weren't sure about.  I went online to find apartments.  There are hundreds of apartment complexes in the area and when I got the job I wanted at Wright City and Bob found out he was to be stationed at the Saint Louis campus for Columbia College, we started focusing our search somewhere midway for both.  I found Mills Apartments in St. Charles and they had an apartment opening just at the right time. The apartment happened to be in New Town.  When we drove up to it, we were so excited by its charm.  The quaint buildings, the business area, the things to do...

It didn't take us long to fall in love with the New Urban viewpoint.  Bob loves walking all over New Town with the dogs, smoking his cigar.  I am pretty sure he is a familiar site around NT. 

We decided around October, 2012 that when we sold our house, we would be buying/building in New Town.  Our house in JC took forever to sell, but in April 2013 we did close on our JC home and have been working with the McBride architects to design a house for us in New Town.

Today, June 18th, we close the deal!  We are meeting with the builders and contractors on June 18th, our wedding anniversary, putting a deposit down and hopefully soon they will break ground!


The house is called Pawtucket.  It is a craftsman style house, with a side wrap-around porch.  The dormer window above completes the craftsman style.  We have chosen James Hardie Boothbay Blue for the exterior (a medium gray) with Arctic White trim and a Woodland Cream front door. 

On the first floor there is a open concept living room/kitchen/dining room.  There's a fireplace in the living room, an island in the kitchen, with the stairs going up to the second level.  The master bedroom is on the main level, with a large walk in closet and private master bath with a main floor laundry room.  There is a powder room on the the main floor, too.

The upstairs has two bedrooms and a loft.  The loft will be our den.  One bedroom will be Ashley and Eric's.  It has a private bath and a large closet.  The guest room will serve as a study and craft room.  There is an hall bathroom and a washer/dryer closet located upstairs, too.

The basement will remain unfinished.  We will use it for storage mostly, but we may also set up some craft areas or exercise areas downstairs.

There is a three car garage, unattached, in the back of the house.  Yards in New Town are exceptionally small, more like courtyards.  We are having a plan made for our courtyard to utilize the space to the max.

We loved living by the water, so when we went to look for a lot, we found this one that will be a part of the Beach District.  It is not completed yet, but we thought it would be fun to sit on our front porch and watch it develop in front of us!

When we moved from JC one of the things Bob and I were certain of was that we wanted to downsize.  This house is about 1,000 square feet less and the yard is not even 1/4 of what we had in Jefferson City.  So even though we have a bigger garage, we did downsize!!

I am looking forward to recording the details of the house here on my blog!  I hope you will enjoy the ride as well!

I marked where we live now and where the new house will be!!

Our 36th Wedding Anniversary

June 18, 1977 I married Robert Joseph Steffes, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health.  We have managed through all of those things but it was with a lot of hard work, forgiveness and dedication.

Anniversary circa 1982, wearing my pearls and the gold watch my Grandmother Holt gave me for my 16th birthday.

When I say "thirty-six years" it sounds like a lifetime, but I can attest that the time went ever so quickly.  We did so many wonderful things:  raised a daughter, earned three doctorates between us, traveled all over the United States and Europe, developed hobbies, gave our lives to public education, and so much more.  Keeping track of our blessings is difficult because we have been very blessed.

This isn't to say that our marriage wasn't challenged.  It was, over and over again.  Every day we wake up dedicated to working on and making our marriage work.  We have plans, you see, to travel together, get in shape, build a house and raise a grandchild or two!

So, thank you, Bob, for thirty-six years of marriage.  I love you, cannot imagine spending my life without you, and am looking forward to the next chapters of our married life. 

Leadership Academy Day 3

The thing about the DESE's professional development is that they do it up right.  Today we were the recipients of the wisdom of Kim Marshall, the author of Rethinking Teacher Supervision and Evaluation. Our leadership team at Wright City read this book as part of a book study and to prepare us for the new teacher evaluation system the state is in the process of changing to by 2015.  The book is great, discussing the merit of face-to-face dialogue following a teacher observation, not the dog and pony show that teachers put on for their admin, but after a short visit.  These short visits, many over a period the of the school year, give a better view of the classroom than does an annual review.  As a teacher I never enjoyed the annual visit, but felt that when my principal came in a few times over the quarter, she had a much better idea of what I was accomplishing in my teaching.

What I like the most about his proposal of eliminating the annual visit and concentrating on the multiple visits is that as a principal I have more opportunities to see what is going on, offer more praise and/or suggestions for improvement, and being able to tell parents that I am in the classroom often and know the quality of work that is going on there.

You can see by the tweets (here are a small sample) that were flying around that we were hearing a lot of good things!!

Summing up the meeting, I learned how much a principal can see in 5-10 minutes, what impact the follow up conversation with the teacher can have, the importance of being with the team while unit planning and what that tells me about a teacher, and how merging the snapshots taken throughout the year can make a much more effective evaluation than just doing the annual visit.

Our district does do walk-throughs, and the annual visit, but Kim Marshall was showing us the value of just the walk through, with more structure, more impact and better evaluations.  Thank you DESE, the RPDCs and the Leadership Academy for all the work you did putting together this wonderful start to our year.  Next post will be in October, after our Outdoor Leadership Event.  Me, camping?  Should be quite interesting!

Leadership Academy Day 2

Today our agenda was intense.  We heard an hour of Common Core, now called the Missouri Learning Standards.  These are under great scrutiny but some of the misconceptions are downright amazing.  I suggest people really look closely at the timeline of the Common Core, and make some common sense judgments on how, when and why the Common Core was written.  We learned about MSIP 5, the score sheets and how to find them.  I really like the format and the information that teachers can find to look at their scores.  I am very interested in the 90% attendance from 90% of the students as a goal.  Attendance is so important to getting a good education.  Our third clinic of the day was on the new Educator Evaluation that is being worked on.  We looked carefully at the components and talked about how to share the information with the teachers.  This was our morning work.

We had lunch and then got to meet up with our region for an hour.  We talked about powerful moments of the morning and then did an activity called The Identity Poster.  We were to give some information about ourselves using the materials given to us, with no limitations of how we chose to present.  Here's my poster, but I have to say, I didn't feel on my mark.  I had a hard time determining the content and then the organization of it before time slipped away.

In the afternoon we were the audience for the class of 2013 Leadership Academy while they presented their data reports.  We had 72 different reports we could choose from.  I listened to a group talk about establishing three data points for RTI, a tardy reduction program, how to best utilize data days for teachers, a report on a school district who is not grading homework at any grade, and the use of Attendance Councils to improve attendance.  While I was watching all these action research reports, I was excited to think of the wonderful things that are happening in Missouri schools.

Tomorrow we will hear Kim Marshall talk about effective evaluation.  Cannot wait to hear his words of wisdom!

Leadership Academy Day 1

Today I joined colleagues from around the state in The Leadership Academy, a professional development opportunity ran by the State of Missouri through the Regional Professional Development Centers.  According to the brochure, it is in its 29th year.  Bob went through the Leadership Academy with Doug Miller in the 90s sometime.  I remember how much he loved the experience.  He especially talked nonstop about his Outdoor Experience.  Notice that I capitalized it.  For me, this is one of the meetings I least look forward to doing.

Today we spend a lot of the day getting to know one another.  Our leaders are Ned Miller, (you might remember him from STARR teaching!), Michael Auer, (we worked together as principals at South Callaway) and David Buck (my current assistant superintendent).  We used Inside/Outside Circles, Have You Ever, and Hogsuckers (yep, that's right, Hogsuckers).  Each strategy was dissected for its potential to use in our own buildings.  Love that part.

We spent a good amount of time looking at the results of our Kolbe A Index scores.  The Kolbe A was designed by Kathy Kolbe who believed that the brain had a third factor, conation, that relies on our own instinctive nature.  A simple test of about 36 questions can determine your Kolbe A Index Result.  My results were 5-4-7-4.

There are four basic conations, behaviors driven by your instinct (not personality or IQ):

1. Fact Finder - is how you gather and share information
2. Follow Thru - is how you sort and store information
3. Quick Start - is how you deal with risks and uncertainty
4. Implementor - is how you handle space and tangibles

My red Fact Finder of 5 says that my best way of gathering and sharing information is by explaining, and getting the essential facts.  Those who know me are nodding their heads!  I love to talk and learned to talk early!  I like to use analogies, edit work, add details, and use appropriate vocabulary.

My blue Follow Thru of 4 says that my best way of arranging and designing information is by maintaining, dect discrepancies and adjust procedures.  I will coordinate a schedule, draft a guideline, review lists, record information (I was the secretary in several organizations) and monitor a policy. 

My green Quick Start of 7 says my best way of dealing with risk or uncertainty is by improvising, experiment to see what will happen!  I initiate change.  I experiment, provide lots of alternatives, ad lib, brainstorm lots of options.  This is my strongest conation.

My yellow Implementor of 4 says my best way of handling space and tangibles is by restoring, keep things working the way they should.  I utilize tools, look for body language and interpret it, test ingredients, and make creations of physical space.  When Bob and I moved, he made me little pieces of paper that allowed me to move the furniture around on a diagram of the room.  It sure saved his back from all the extra moving! 

The Index results even tell me to avoid certain stress in my life, things that I have done so much and gets me NO WHERE such as:  trying to prove my point; arguing over facts; working without a plan, trying to conform, sticking to a script, trying to avoid risks, being so literal.  All these things that have been tormenting me!!

My true nature is to race the clock! work with change! experimenting! doing things at the last minute! giving a million and one ideas!! Get things started (like book clubs!!).

No wonder Invent-A-Casserole was so cool to me!!  (the post before this one!!)

I am so looking forward to seeing how I can use my strengths to be creative during this school year.  Working with a school of blues and reds (who usually cannot stand the free-for-all-style of a green!) will present its challenges but I do believe I can learn to use everyone's strengths for the good of the school.  I am certainly eager to try!

For other greens out there, I found this very interesting article on the Kolbe A on Oprah.com.  Go and check it out to learn more!

Invent-A-Casserole

Back in the day, when I was a young mother and wife, I was in charge of the cooking and grocery shopping.  Bob did all the outdoor maintenance, and with the two houses we owned in Columbia and the one we had in JC, required a lot of outdoor work.  Bob would grill on occasion and that was always a highlight.

My grandmothers were fabulous cooks.  My mom would say she wasn't a good cook, but my sister and I loved her fried potatoes with hamburgers, her eggnog and potato soup so much. She could make a mean grilled cheese and Campbell's tomato soup, too!  I loved to bake, and to this day, that's where I like to find myself in the kitchen.

I took a vacation day from school today and was looking through a variety of bags that have stuff in them, mostly stuff to be thrown away, but I did find one bag that held many treasures, Ashley's wedding picture disk, my Zonta application, jewelry appraisals, and a file full of tear sheets of recipes.

Do you remember making tear sheet files?  Back in the day of magazines, when you found a recipe you liked, you tore it out and filed it, to make later.  Sort of a low-tech Pinterest, if you will.

This file of tear sheets had many fun recipes that I had tried, some with good results and some, not-so-much.  One such recipe was Invent-A-Casserole that I found in an old cookbook.  I loved the idea of it so much that I used this Invent-A-Casserole idea for years.  Here's Southern Living's Invent-Your-Own-Casserole that came out much later, like 2003.

I loved them!  I love a warm, cheesy casserole with a side salad and bread so much!!  Getting to combine what ever protein, sauces, veggies, pasta, extras, I felt like a chef!  I'd proudly serve up a new combination weekly for years.  With leftovers for school for all!!   I am not exaggerating.  Years.

If you saw this on our table in the 90s, Invent-A-Casserole was in it!

Some time when Ashley hit her high school years, Invent-A-Casserole took a back seat and eventually took a natural death.  She was so busy, we were busy, and cooking at home became more and more a thing of the past.  It got to a point where we were eating out so we could eat as a family.

When Ashley was getting married, I ran across my recipe tear files again and found the Invent-A-Casserole article.  I was so excited!  I told Ashley, let's invite Eric over for an Invent-A-Casserole night!  Bob and Ashley looked at each other and said, "Let's not."   What???  It comes to light that neither of them liked, even a teeny tiny bit, Invent-A-Casserole night!  I was flabbergasted!  Heartbroken! Even a little, MAD!

Probably deep down I knew they weren't fans.  There were always a lot of left overs by the end of the week, and that is with me taking it for lunch nearly every day.  However, it was cooking survival and I did manage to survive.  Finding and sharing that file with Ashley brought back memories for both of us, with our own unique perspective.

Bob took over cooking when Ashley graduated from high school.  That was nine years ago and I have had some amazing meals since Bob became the chef in our household.  Who knows, maybe years of Invent-A-Casserole led to Bob wanting to learn to cook!  If that's the case, then we all won!

Pinterest Trial: Poached Egg in the Microwave

One of the many items on my list this summer is to give some of my Pinterest pins a trial run.  I pin a lot, probably as much as the average person, but I don't seem to follow up on giving them a try.  I ran across this pin, and decided to try it as it hit two of my lists, the Pinterest list and the Find-a-Fast-but-Not-Fast-Food breakfast.

This pin says you can poach an egg in the microwave in 1 minute, 15 seconds in a cup of water.  Sounds fast, eggs are delish, and if the poached egg is hard enough, then breakfast becomes portable, also a great thing.

I started off with this mug.  I chose this mug because it is cute.  Bad decision.  This cup has a larger surface and took longer to heat, so my 1:15 breakfast turned into 2:00 minutes.  Ok, not horrible, but if you are late, you are late.

 So you crack an egg into the cup of water.  Place it in the microwave 1:15 minutes, as the original pin suggested but then I added an additional 45 seconds because the egg was still raw.  I let mine set for 15 seconds and then scooped it out with a spoon.  I put a second egg in and it cooked faster, in 1 minute.

The last step is to salt and pepper to taste.  Then, enjoy!!

5th Annual Memorial Day Cook Off!

Beautiful Memorial Day decorations in New Town

 The Steffes/Hasty crew conducted their 5th annual Memorial Day Cook Off today!  To recap the last four winners, let's start with 2012:  Ashley and Terri's Island Burger won first place in Bloomington!  The burger featured grilled pineapple and a teriyaki glaze served on a Hawaiian roll.  In 2011 the winner was clearly Ashley with her chorizo burger with avocado mayonnaise.  Spicy and yummy!  Bob won in 2010 with his Grecian burger.  In 2009, the competition was between burgers, not BBQ'ers!  The winner her was the Inside Out Burger over the Cola burger.  Both were yummy, as I recall!! 

Ashley and Eric are in St. Louis visiting Bob and Terri in their new apartment in New Town St. Charles.  With a new venue, anyone can be a winner!  Will moving to St. Charles upset Ashley's winning streak?

 
I think one of the reasons we enjoy this Cook Off so much is that our dads, Jerry Oliver, and Giles Steffes, enjoyed BBQing so much.  Both Jerry and Giles served in the Korean Conflict.  We were fortunate that they both came back to their families, but both had friends they lost.

Today we were so crowded preparing our burgers in our teeny kitchen.  Eric was able to use the breakfast bar as his area and that helped a lot!  I had to make part of mine early due to the marinating time.  Ashley and Bob both had burgers that took a bit of preparation.

Left to right:  Risotto Burger, Korean Burger, Mexi-Spanish Burger, Jalapeno Poppers Burger

Eric made a Risotto Burger (meatlesss).  It was baked in the oven, not grilled, and topped with a white cheese.  Ashley made a Jalapeno Popper Burger that had cream cheese in the middle, Bob made a Mexi-Spanish burger dressed with guacamole and salsa and I made a Korean burger topped with a Korean slaw and Swiss cheese.  The decision making was close, but we all agreed that Eric's Risotto Burger won!

Tiramisu Cake and Gelato for dessert

Due to an incoming storm, we hurriedly packed Ashley, Eric and Huxley off to Bloomington.  They have been gone about 30 minutes and it is beginning to thunder here.  Another wonderful Memorial Day, spent thinking of our family who served and enjoying each others' company.  No better way to do it!

Bob's Birthday Dinner 2013

Bob turned 55 today!!


I know he likes birthdays and today was extra special because he got to spend it with Ashley and Eric!  Eric and Bob spent most of the day at the Senior PGA tournament.  They enjoyed it so much that when they came home to get ready for dinner, they continued to watch it on tv!  Bob chose to go to Pastria's for dinner, a place we have been to before but that we really love.  All of us like going here because the food is good, the atmosphere is friendly, busy and yet homey.  

Bob ordered risotto ball, roasted brussels sprouts, and crispy potatoes for an appetizer.  He got a bottle of wine with Eric while Ashley and I ordered bellinis.   Bob ordered the kale salad and we each ordered our meals, roasted chicken for me, Bob ordered pappardelle, Ashley got a ravioli and Eric a lasagne.  Our food was fresh, fun, and exciting.  We ordered panna cotta and gelato for dessert.

While we left feeling very satisfied, we did not feel stuffed.  The portion sizes are not huge, although we each left with a small doggie bag.

Ashley and Eric gifted him with some special cigars and I gave him a special pan to use on his Green Egg. 

Happy birthday, Bob!  We love you!!

Dinner Out: Elaia Restaurant

Bob and I love to try new-to-us restaurants and St. Louis has so many that we haven't tried that this isn't a hard task at all.  When Ashley and Eric make it to town, we really want to share with them all the ones we have tried and loved and then find one for us all to try together.  Last night we tried Elaia.  It is over in the Tower Grove area, which we have really come to love.  The restaurant is housed in a two story two family flat that has been converted on the inside to a beautiful modern restaurant.  Before you come into the flat, you go through a renovated art deco gas station that houses another restaurant called Olio.

 

You are presented with the Menu of the Day which lists four courses.  You can order a la carte, or the four course meal.  Elaia has an extensive array of wines, which they will serve half glasses of, so you may have the perfect wine for the part of the meal you are currently eating.  That's a nice feature for those who love wine (Bob, Eric, Ashley) with their food.  I am a water kinda gal with food, although I did have a glass of wine with my scallops.  

Here were my courses, starting in the upper left corner:


1.  Cold first course:  Berata cheese with preserved candied lemon peel, asparagus, artichoke and dill.  The cheese is made with the leftovers of making mozzarella cheese.  It is cool and squeaky on the teeth.  Loved every bite and hated to share, but I did.

2.  Warm second course:  House made fetticcine with a quail egg and salmon roe.  The egg is raw but when you mix the roe and egg with the fetticcine, bliss.  The noodles were coated in a fine lemon cream sauce.  Such a yummy course.

3.  My mail course was scallops with cauliflower, white gazpacho, marconas, green almonds and sherry.  The best dish so far.  Scallops grilled perfectly, and with a bite of the mash, was excellent!

4.  The last course was dessert.  Mine was a lemon tart, with raspberries, homemade meringues and a sugar cookie crumble.  Delish!

The portion sizes were small, but the food rich and delicious.  We are very excited about coming back

and trying out Olio in the renovated Standard Gas Station.  If you are in St. Louis and want to go, call!!