So I Was Just Thinking

I have been literally counting the days for the past three weeks. Work was especially stressful for at least two months. The last day of work there wasn't much to do because I was on top of everything, so I spent the day listening to Audiobooks and watching the clock. I was reading Marit's blog and saw that she was participating in Index Card a Day at Daisy Yellow so I decided to join in. Can you tell what I am ready for? I am so ready that on the last day of work,  I couldn't even spell VACATION on my first index card. The first order of business: Sleep in. And sleep in I did. Actually, I woke up at 8:15 and said, "In 15 minutes, I will get up and mow the lawn." Fifteen minutes later came an hour later to find me sound asleep. I woke up surprised to see how late it was (during the year I wake at 5:00 a.m). I then got the kids up to pick up anything that might get caught in the mower. I put the new edger together and put gas in the mower. Index ...

{this moment} - A weekly ritual inspired by SouleMama. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' at SouleMama and here in the comments for all to find and see. This moment required a series of photos.  

WARNING: LONG STORY WITH PHOTOS NOTE: THIS IS NOT A WHINING STORY, MORE LIKE A POKE AT MYSELF AND MY INSANITY. Today is James’ (James’s??) birthday. Caitlin’s is at the end of the week. She has been begging to go to Six Flags Over Texas for years. I haven’t been since the 80s. I was a little leery about long lines and the cost. I also didn’t want to be the only adult on the trip because I was worried about having to let Caitlin go on rides alone when James was too short to get on. However, my son has become a giant, so that wasn’t the problem. Instead, he was afraid to ride certain rides. For this reason I am glad I decided to bring along a companion for Caitlin. We went on Sunday. The day started out at 5 a.m. with a text from a friend. (Don’t you just love time zones??) That was okay because I had scheduled a 6 a.m. departure. (For some reason, I thought needed to leave at that time.) We ran to the ATM and the donut shop for a little breakfast and hit the road. There was NO t...

While many of my friends in Norway and such are enjoying the last few days of Winter Holiday, we are just beginning our Spring Break. It's not that it won't technically be spring up there, but they are still having lingering snow and cold weather. Today was a perfect day here in Texas. The only thing it was missing was a kite. We started this wonderful day off with an early trip to the park for James' first soccer game. Our team shirts weren't ready so we were told to wear a green shirt. Oddly enough (being almost St. Patrick's Day) there were hardly any available for a five year old boy who is the size of an eight year old. There were two that had ugly characters on them, and I wasn't spending several dollars on a shirt that he was never going to wear again. I ended up finding a plain green Hane's t-shirt in the men's department in size small. I decided it would have to do. Since it was so early, it was still a little chilly and a LOT windy. James deci...

I should have just stopped complaining while I was ahead. Instead, I went to meet two college friends for lunch on my last day out of town for the dance competition. I can't remember the last time I had seen either of them outside of Facebook. Last week, James' seat belt buckle broke, so I moved him to the other side of the car, but didn't remember to click the child lock on that side of the car. He is not allowed to let himself out of the car for many reasons. Caitlin or I have to do it every time. We were sitting in the restaurant's parking lot waiting for my friends to arrive. The text came that they were there, so I said, "Let's go." As I was getting out of the car, I heard the most horrific scream and turn around to see James' finger stuck in the door. I quickly opened the door and when I first saw it, I thought, maybe it was just pinched. As time passed, the finger turned red and purple under the nail and the skin around it had scraped. I ran hi...

Today we took our third trip to Sweet Berry Farm . We love going there for strawberries in the spring and to take pictures around the pumpkins and gourds in the fall . This year we made our trip early enough to get to see everything fresh and bright and picture worthy. On the tractor ride. A rare group photo - of course my eyes had to be closed. We wandered around through the different types of pumpkins. This variety is called "Cinderella" Lumina These are actually gourds, Apple Gourds to be precise. These are called "Lunch Lady." Click to enlarge these and you will see why they are called Peanuts. The closest are called "Knuckleheads" and the gray ones are "Jarrahdale." Who knew there were so many? Taking goofy pictures is always at the top of our list. So is wandering through the different "corn" field mazes (it isn't really corn.) Trying to capture the sun through the stalks. (Picnik'ed) James got to ring the bell when they ...

I just realized how much time I waste on Facebook when I could be crafting or blogging or reading or exercising. Does that mean I am going to change? Who knows, but I thought it was time for some of my random thoughts to hit the blog page. Other than the computer, what else has been taking up my time? Let see: School started over a month ago. We are well into the swing of things. There are still some school provided programs not in place yet, but I make do with what I have. My students are sweet, generally well behaved kids. It takes many of them much longer to learn things than the kids I taught last year. I am learning how to help them. When they make certain mistakes in math, it makes my head swirl because it is so beyond me how you couldn't get it after a week of daily tutoring and a week of lessons and teacher's aide coming around to help them individually whenever they are stuck. My coworker said, "You must have asked God to give you patience." I must have. C...

We made pizzas this week. My blog friend Hilde Iren posted on Facebook that she was enjoying her Saturday and that she would be making pizza. It made me want to make pizzas, too. So when Caitlin and I came home from dance practice, we stopped at the grocery store for pizza fixings. The kids had a nice time making dinner. James doesn't care for cheese decided that he didn't want to have any on his part of the pizza. It made the final result look funny, but he ate it and that's the important part. Now if I can just get him to like some veggies. I, on the other hand, had a veggie pizza. I also limited the amount of cheese that went on my pizza. James helped make mine, too. The kids' pizza went in first. It was only after I was putting mine in the oven that I realized that Caitlin had only put the temperature up to 400°F instead of 425°F. This made the center of theirs a little softer than I would like, but they ate it. James wants to make an...