New Year, New Post

A lot has happened since February 2010. My father passed away in June of 2010, my son was born in August 2010, and I went from being a classroom teacher to an Art/Gym teacher for the 2010-2011 school year to an Art teacher/librarian this school year. It is amazing what life throws at you.

Although I do miss the classroom, I do not miss the endless hours of grading and the happenings with the parents. I love that I can go home at the end of the school day and hang out with my son and husband.

I LOVE all that I can have the students create in art class and all the stories I get to read to the students in the library. I think it is the perfect fit at this moment in my life. It also helps that I get so many compliments on so many of the items we create in art.

Four Days and Counting

It has been four days since I have had the urge to throw up. Sure I still get queasy at the thought of some foods. The thought of ground beef is just nauseating, especially when I used to make tacos at least once every two weeks. Making dinner has become somewhat of a task because it totally depends on what I feel like eating.

I have also noticed that I just about finished with my 3rd jar of peanut butter in the last two months. I told Jay that baby just feels like eating peanut butter. :)

So as I am entering my 15th week, I am hoping that my morning sickness is going to be a thing of the past. I am going to try to go off my nausea pills next week and hope for the best!

Now I just need the patience to get through ISTEP testing this week. It is the applied skills portion which means the students are writing out their answers. We have practiced everyday last week and now I can just pray that they take their time and do their very best. However sometimes that might be asking a little too much.

Please Go Away January

It has turned out that January has been quite an expensive month. We have had to replace a garbage disposal, followed by the demise of the poor computer, a crack in my windshield, the furnace needing a cleaning, and now the ignitor going out in the stove.

I am happy to report that we were able to replace the garbage disposal ourselves.

Tony was fixing the computer and found the stupid virus program and just as he was about to get rid of it, it locked him out of every single thing. So now you can't even log on. Hopefully the computer will be taking a ride with my Uncle Paul. Hopefully he can rid the nasty virus away.

I have done nothing about the crack in my windshield because I am still trying to fathom how pulling into the garage at night and coming back in the morning could actually form a crack. The poor car also needs to be washed and my dad says it will be okay going through the car wash. However I have visions of the crack getting larger as I am sitting in the car wash.

The furnace was probably the least expensive fix of $50. Only because the heating and cooling guy is a friend of the family and I expected it to be more because he came out on a Sunday afternoon. I was quite pleasantly surprised when I received the bill.

And as of today, I have a working stove again. How anyone can justify charging $62 to come out and then charge $20 labor and then $50 for a part is beyond me. Shouldn't labor and a service fee be the same thing?

So January I need you to leave. I really cannot afford for you to stay any longer.

Halfway through...January that is!

It is hard to believe that January is already halfway over. I consider this a good thing because it means that I am closer to ending my first trimester. Yuppers I am preggars. :)

I'm sure that most everyone knows because of who we saw at Christmas, but I guess this is the first time I have actually written out that I am. According to my doctor I am due on August 22. So it means that I have about a month and a couple weeks to fit into my bridesmaid dress for Rosie's wedding in October. I have yet to order my dress.

Today marks my 9th week, that means that I hopefully only have 3 more weeks left of this fantastic first trimester. However I consider it anything but fantastic. I get to spend every day being nauseated and have a hard time keeping down my breakfast and lunch. It is amazing that I have made it through teaching without having to run out of the room to throw up. Although I am waiting for the day that it actually happens. I just tend to prop myself up someplace in the room and teach from there.

I have yet to tell my students, but the entire school staff knows. So I am debating on when to tell my students.

I was given nausea pills from my doctor and was told to take two before bed and one in the morning. So far I have taken one pill at night and it completely knocks me out. So needless to say I am not taking the recommended dosage. However when I wake up in the morning I do feel somewhat like I can function through the day. Although my mom would rather I not take any at all. At this point I really would like to fbe able to somewhat function.

So these last few weeks of the first trimester should be interesting. I have my next appointment on the 28th and was told I will be given an ultrasound and should be able to hear a heartbeat. How exciting! :)

Patience

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them - every day begin the task anew.
~Saint Augustine

This is something that I need to be telling myself as we get one day closer to the end of the first half of the school year. I also enjoyed the fact that on Sunday the homily was about patience. It is funny how the homilies reflect how I am feeling at the moment.

I will just remember to tell myself to breathe through the next 12 school days. :)

Celtic Thunder

I saw these guys in concert last night and they were AMAZING! I had never heard anything about them until Rosie mentioned that she wanted to go and Laura proclaimed they looked too "gay" to see in concert. I was blown away! Plus who wouldn't enjoy seeing Irishmen in kilts! :)

Kitchen Redo

Back in September, my parents ice maker went bananas overnight and they woke up to the flooding of their kitchen, mudroom, and my dad's room. Then all of that water had to go somewhere and it went into the basement. So after a week of fans and humidifiers running nonstop. The place was finally dried out.

The insurance people took off with the ice maker hoping to find something wrong with it. They also took off with all of the clothes that were "water damaged" in the basement and sent them off to be dry cleaned. The nice insurance people also took pulled off the laminate flooring so that the sub floor could dry.

So now that the kitchen has been pulled apart, it has forced my mom to go ahead and redo the kitchen. She has talked for years how she wanted to redo the kitchen. I just told her the ice maker gave her the shove that she needed to redo. :)

So my mom and I spent yesterday steaming off the wallpaper. We were quite proud of the fact that we have half of the kitchen done. She is having Kitchens Etc. come in and put in new ceramic flooring and granite counter tops. I am hoping that I can get the rest of the wallpaper off the walls and paint before the flooring people come in. However, it takes my mom an eternity to commit to the perfect paint color. I think I am going to go to Lowe's and pick out some colors and slap it on the wall and then maybe I will get an answer out of her!

What still needs to be pulled off:

What was accomplished:

Now if I can get in there this weekend and get the rest of it off, my world will be great. However I have a school function on Sunday that is taking up most of my afternoon. This might be tricky!

A Perfect Day

It was a beautiful day for apple picking. I mentioned to Laura that I had wanted to go apple picking a couple of weeks ago. She told me that she was going with a friend. I was welcomed to come along, but I told her I would be a third wheel. :)

So Laura organized it so that the entire family could go. Despite the icky forecast that we got on Friday, today is absolutely gorgeous!

After about 10 minutes, my parents apple bushel was full and the rest of us had yet to even fill half. We even ran into people we knew.

We had a good time and we came to realization that we probably should have taken a group shot when we ran into the people that we knew after we had gone and left.

Now I have a bag full of apples, and I know that there is no possible way that I will be able to eat all of them. So off to school they go! :)

Laura and Eddie in a search for the perfect apples

Rosie and her tiny apple

Rosie and Steve with the giant apple that he found

Tony and Eddie

Rosie even picked a pumpkin :)

Bike Ride

I had an old teaching friend call me up the other day wondering if I wanted to go bike riding at the Apple Festival in Nappanee on Saturday. She told me that her husband was unable to go because he had to work and she had really wanted to go. She mentioned that there was a 16 mile route and a 30 mile route. I told her I was up for either.

I don't know what in the heck I was thinking! I haven't ridden my bike in over a year. So we set out for the 30 mile route today. Gee was I stupid. Within the first half hour my legs were starting to hurt, but I kept pedaling. About 10 miles into the ride, I figured out that I have been on the highest resistance gear possible. stupid, stupid, stupid :)

We rested quite a bit for my sake and even took a short cut. The funny thing was that while on the shortcut we meet another rider and he is looking and talking to my friend. Then he said that he knew her. So here we are in the middle of a cornfield and they figure out that they went to school together at Washington. It really is a small world!

So after 13.2 miles we stop at the first SAG stop at an Amish house. Which I have no idea what SAG means, but they have some treats and I am more than happy to stop. My friend decided that I should stay while she finishes up the rest of the ride. I had no problem with that.

So I rested, while other riders were coming in and getting refueled. Some riders were even talking about the ride that is happening on Sunday and it is a 70 mile one. What the heck people!?!

Also while I was resting the Amish couple that was providing the treats had three small children playing outside. The one youngest daughter brought her chair and sat it right next to mine and she was bringing me treats and climbed on my lap and enjoyed her juice. She was a cutie!

So my friend gets me after an hour and she informs me that she checked off my name at the finish line so that people don't go looking for me. :) Also she mentioned that there was Amish homemade ice cream and apple pie at the finish line and that the organizers of the ride told her that I was more than welcomed to come and enjoy some pie. They even sent her with Apple Butter for me! I declined going back for the pie and ice cream.

Even though I am beyond sore tonight and probably will have a tough time of walking tomorrow, I really enjoyed my bike ride and catching up with an old friend. My husband thinks that I am nuts for biking that long of a distance. I probably am, but I enjoyed myself. That is what I will keep telling myself tomorrow! :)

Water Aerobics

Water aerobics has become latest exercise craze. I have always wanted to partake in this activity, but have always been a little weary of walking into a class and not knowing anyone. However, I guess I am becoming braver because I actually took the plunge!

My first class was on Monday and I LOVED it! It is a 45 minute class and it actually seems like it is shorter. The water might be a little chilly when we first get in, but I quickly warm up after doing all of the warm up exercises.

The only thing that I need to get now is another bathing suit and it is the wrong time of year to buy one. I was hoping that I could find one on clearance but have had no such luck. So I went searching online and I think I found one at Land's End that is reasonably priced.

The only thing that I am not looking forward to is when the colder months arrive and I have to get into a chilly pool. Brrr!

For now though, I am content and even thinking about starting to spin again on Tuesday nights. :)

I am alive

Sorry for the blogging hiatus. Since the end of July I have had to get ready for the start of school and that always drags me down. Now that we are two weeks in, I feel I have a grip on things.

Since I moved up a grade this year to third, I have half of the same students that I had last year. In a way it is a good/bad thing. I do know what to expect and what the abilities are of the students without having to feel my way around. The bad thing is that it is hard to implement new strategies because half of them remember how I did things last year. So it has been a ride these last two weeks.

Also our playground is not finished. So at the moment we are playing in between the church and the parking lot. Lets just say organized chaos ensues and I want to pull my hair out most days after recess. However I just keep saying that it will only be a month until it is finished (fingers crossed).

Hubby started a job at Memorial doing laundry and his schedule is wacky. He has to be at work at 6 during the week and 4:30 if he works weekends. So he is getting up an hour and a half before his start time and it only means that I have to get up with him because the alarm is on my side of the bed and I refuse to wake up to annoying beeping sound. :)

However we aren't sure how long this job will last because 1. we believe he is becoming a scapegoat for everything and 2. he was told that Memorial is looking to outsource laundry. So we are back to the drawing board on looking for jobs. He is also toying around with the idea of a vet tech program at Brown Mackie. So we don't know really where we are headed. It is always fun to be surprised :)

Mom and Dad are headed to Texas today for two weeks. Dad is going to be part of a trial study and needs to be down there for two weeks straight and then he will go back every week Tuesday until Friday for the following four weeks after his two weeks are finished. Hopefully everything goes smooth for the next six weeks. I just ask that you keep him in your prayers. :)

I'm baking up a storm today for a get-together at my brother's. He is supplying the house and the grill and I am bringing the food for him to cook. I think it is a good deal since my house is a tad on the smaller side. So I hope everyone has a happy Labor Day!

So many pics...so little space

We had so much fun this weekend. It was great seeing family and a long lost friend. These three pics are probably my fav from the weekend, although I could have put so much more up!

I love this one of hubby and I.

Keely and I met in Kindergarten and were friends through eighth grade. Then we lost touch because we both went to different high schools and colleges. It was so great to see her!

I LOVE this pic of Carisse and her red shoes!

Harry Potter Update

We had a fantastic time at the Harry Potter Exhibition exhibit at the Science and Industry Museum. We saw many of the different props and clothing worn by the stars over the years. I also thought it was cool to see how small the clothing was in the first movie compared to the latest movies. We were not allowed to take any pics in the exhibition, but they did have the flying car that was used in the movie in the lobby and you could take all of the pics that you wanted.

We also saw the movie in the Omnimax theater. The Omnimax theater is completely different than an IMAX theater in that the Omnimax theater is rounded but still really big. So my neck got uncomfortable watching it because you had to keep turning your head to see all of the different things going on in the scene. But the flying scenes felt like you were right there in the movie!

We also ate at a yummy restuarant before we made our way back to the train station. Also just a FYI the South Shore people (aka the answering service with the schedules) do not even know what side of the tracks their trains show up on!

Harry Potter

I am off to Chicago today. Friends from high school and I are off to the Harry Potter exhibit at the Science and Industry Museum and then viewing the movie in IMAX. I really cannot remember how the book goes or the last movie, but I am sure once I get into the movie I will start to remember.

I even have one of the gals making me a t-shirt with Hufflepuff written on it and the crest of the house on the lower left hip side of the shirt. :)

It should be a fun filled day!

Summer School

I am in the final week of teaching summer school. There are four adults in the classroom. One is in charge of reading, another in charge of writing, another in charge of fluency, and another in charge of art.

I am the person in charge of art. After four weeks of completing art projects that go along with the theme of the week, I am happy with the way things have turned out. I literally go to work for three and a half hours and get paid to complete art projects. I have enjoyed myself. :)

I have taken pics of what we have completed. Hubby asked me why I made them and I said why not. It was fun!

Planet Bubbles for our Space Week

Pennants for our Sports Week

Monsters for our Scary Week

Fingerprint Art for our Mystery Week

Now I just have to make it to Friday and then I am back on vacation for three more weeks before I go in and start putting back together my classroom.

Demolition Derby

Friday night hubby and I found ourselves at the 4-H Fair. We were there because we heard that they were going to have a demolition derby. Hubby really wanted to go and I was curious because it was being held in the main grandstand. I wondered how in the heck that would happen.

After the evening was over, we decided that we have to go to another one with a larger arena. Apparently there is going to be a bigger one held at the South Bend Motor Speedway September 12.

I have come to the conclusion that demo's are really LOUD and there is some fascination with Care Bears. I haven't figured that one out yet.

Here is our night in pics:

This car took Best in Show because it looked the prettiest (although that is probably not the technical term).

Wreckage! Oh and the field was grass and by the end of the night it was dirt and dirt was everywhere!

If you can look closely at the driver front tire it is completely off and dragging.

The driver of car 212 was only 16! He made it into the finals, although he did not win.

This pic just cracks me up because both the driver and the Pink Panther are watching the action!

Now for the next race we will attend, we just have to drag my brother along with us!

I feel extremely stupid today

I was getting into the car like usual today and was backing out and then all of a sudden I heard a snap and a black plastic piece fly past me. I throw the car in park and jump out to see what I had hit.

Apparently the garage door never went all the way up and I backed right into the door. Mind you the door only had about two more feet to reach the top. Needless to say that was not enough clearance to get the car out. So I hit the button again hoping that the door would go up. No luck because the door fell off of the track.

I ran into the house to get wake hubby up and told him to get out to the garage. He came with and helped pop the track back into place. Then we closed the garage. The only damage to my car are the luggage racks that sit on top and some white paint scraped along the top edge. Luckily the luggage racks were there otherwise I would have dented the top of my car.

Also while we were outside, hubby slapped my neck. Before I could yell at him he blurted out spider and I freaked and started hitting myself. So with the spider not crawling on me anymore, I set off to work.

I'm sure we put on quite a show for the neighbors. :)

My Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday and it was very low key. Which is exactly how I like it. I had some of the summer school students wish me a happy birthday and when I got out of work I had five texts telling me happy birthday. Then basically I laid around the house all day not doing a darn thing. It was wonderful!

I also received a birthday card from one of my second graders in the mail with a gift card to Friday's. I thought that was very thoughtful of the student!

I also checked the order status of my bench that my parents bought for me. I found out that it was arriving yesterday at some unknown time. So basically Mr. (or Ms.) Fed-Ex person kept me waiting.

So around 7 o'clock my package still had not come so we decided to go to Friday's and use the gift card. Dinner was yummy, the waitress was dumb. I know that she was busy rushing around to her four tables but we lost her for a good 30 minutes while waiting for our check. Then she didn't even run the gift card, just our debit. When I questioned her she said it was too late. I know that I should have raised a stink, but I just wanted to get home.

So we got home and the package was on the porch. I asked hubby if we could put it together even though it was 9 o'clock. He didn't mind, but then my friend called (whom I haven't talked to since Christmas) and so we talked for awhile, while we discussed me coming to Florida for a little relaxation because now that she has a real job and no longer is in school she doesn't know when she will be coming back up to South Bend. (She got her PHD in May and is now working for the Army Corp of Electrical Engineers in Miami.)

So after I got off the phone we proceeded to put my present together and realized that it didn't have directions, but we figured it out after some trial and errors. So now we have a nice piece of furniture on the porch that is hiding my shoes and only 2 pairs of hubby's because lets face it, I have more shoes than him!

So now that the porch is starting to come together, we are thinking about what kind of floor to put down. I would like to go linoleum or possibly a fake looking wood just because the real wood would get messed up with the snow and I am pretty sure under the carpet is just plywood. Decisions, decisions! :)

Need a book to read?

You would think that since I am on summer vacation I would post more. However that is not the case. It is probably because I am catching up on reading and sleeping! :)

In case you are looking for something to read, I recommend Bitter is the New Black by Jennifer Lancaster. It is non-fiction and just very hilarious. It is a laugh out loud kind of story and very hard to put down.

Rosie recommended it to me and know I have have finished the second book written by her called Bright Lights, Big Ass. I have to read the third book written by her, Such a Pretty Fat.

So if you are looking for something to make you laugh, try Bitter is the New Black! (Dang I sound like some commercial!)

Elkhart Farmer's Market

I went to the Elkhart Farmer's Market today for one purpose...jumbo jellybeans. They are my dad's favorite and he has been talking about how he needs to go to Wakarusa and get some jumbo jellybeans.

However I did not have to make the drive to Wakarusa but only to the Elkhart Farmer's Market because they have a booth there. I also wandered around the market and oogled at the Amish made tables and goodies on the second floor.

I did happen to find this nice little table runner. My original purpose was to place it on my new hutch in the porch. However I have found that it looks quite nice on my table. So I am thinking of going back and getting another one that matches the dining room and placing it on the table and the one I got today on the hutch in the porch. Only due to the fact that the colors would go better on the porch. Plus it the rectangle one was only $8! What a bargain!


So at the moment Mr. Gnome (who is also part of my dad's Father Day present) is hanging out on the table with a nice comfort under his feet. :-)