When life hands you lemons, make Lemon Bread!

Leaving “home” was hard. Luckily, other than the drive home, I had no time to think about wishing I had more time to spend there, because I had to work at 3:30 in the afternoon on the day we were driving back. After an eight-hour drive, I was back in the saddle. Target was busy and it was great to see my coworkers. I worked every day, including New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and through the weekend. Lawyerboy had time off still. He spent it playing his new Call to Duty game on his X-Box 360. I had let Target know that I was available any time this week beings I assumed there was no school! Therefore, Lawyerboy and I actually had more time together and could either have lunch or supper with one another depending upon when I worked. It made me feel like we were back in Minot where we actually got to see each other during the day!

January 5, 2009 was a Monday. I figured schools would be back in session. So, of course my phone rang at 6:00 in the morning. It was to be a physical education teacher at the middle school and then at the elementary school in the afternoon at a school I didn’t mind going to, New Spirit. On Tuesday, I got called to my favorite school, Hope. Then back to New Spirit to teach fifth grade. I met a very inspirational girl on January 7, 2009. I was just finishing up reading through the classroom notes and looking at the text books, when a petite, brunette walked in. She introduced herself to me. Her name is Lisa and she is the para for this classroom and a fourth grade class. She told me this was her first day back. She was gone the whole first semester because she had breast cancer and had a mastectomy. She is an inspiration. She looks to be in her mid or later twenties, like myself. She said she was only working until noon the first week back because she gets tired very easily.

Lisa was such a help throughout the day. This class is sweet, but has a few students that don’t want to be there and two that can go from best friends to enemies in a second. They were friends today and took to my techniques well. Plus, I think they were excited to have Lisa there. 🙂

The classroom teacher, Mary, called me in the afternoon. Her son is sick and she plans to be gone again tomorrow. She asked if I could teacher for her again. I gladly accepted. I like when I know ahead of time and can continue the lessons I was teaching.

Lisa didn’t get in until 9:00. She was feeling very tired. She and I had a very nice visit. She told me she needed to leave at 10:30 because she had a radio taping at 11:00. I asked her about it. She said she is promoting her dance that she choreographed and will be dancing to tomorrow night. This made me curious and elated.(I love dancing. I used to dance around our basement and use the freezer and couch as props to jump on and off of to create the perfect dance!) It is a dance about breast cancer and she will be performing it without her wig. She said she is a little nervous and feels a bit vulnerable. I told her I’d love to go! However, I work at Target and she also said it was sold out. Which was great to hear. I am looking forward to seeing her again to hear how it went!

I needed her to walk into my life. I needed to be reminded that people have ups and downs and turning life into a beautiful dance when you get handed lemons is what makes you remember what life and living really are… precious and adventurous.

Lemon Bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees – Bake Time: 45 minutes – Prep Time: 15 minutes – Makes: 1 loaf (12 slices)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons lemon juice (Fresh squeezed is best!)

1 tablespoon lemon peel (one lemon’s worth)

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup 2% milk

Lemon Bread Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Begin by washing one lemon and grating the whole thing. I cut it in half to make it easier for squeezing in the lemon juice later.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, lemon juice, and lemon peel. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and milk to the large bowl, stirring between each addition.

Pour the batter into a greased 8-inch by 4-inch bread pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a toothpick in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Remove bread from pan onto wax paper or a cooling rack. Mix together the powdered sugar and lemon juice in a cereal bowl. Immediately glaze the bread with the mixture. Cool and enjoy. It is refreshing!