The Camerons

Day 21 Summer July 2

2010-07-05T20:56:00.002-04:00

Friday morning I gave up on the accent wall and Kenzie and I moved all of the furniture around to it's new spot. It started to look a little better and not like such a train wreck, but there was no way to get everything done before Becca came home at noon. Unfortunately I was in the shower when Becca was dropped off! Can you believe it???? But she ran into the bathroom to tell me she loved it! Whew.

Five minutes later Becca ran over to visit the neighbor and decided to stay there for the afternoon instead of running Kenzie to class in the next county.

I dropped Kenzie off at class and decided to come home because I was really sleepy. Becca and Kiera came back home in the late afternoon and then all three of us went to get Kenzie.

Kenzie really enjoyed her art class. It was admittedly a pain to take her and pick her up each day, but I think it was totally worth it. Plus it got Becca and I out of the house! We were probably much more active than we normally would be. Although the credit cards got a bigger work out than we did!

After we picked up Kenzie we went back to Home Depot to get new paint. Same color, same brand (because the Behr Premium Paint and Primer has worked so incredibly well for us in the past!) and then came home and ordered calzones from Cheech's. Yum. If you are not jealous, you should be.

Becca headed back to Kiera's to spend the night and I painted the stupid wall again. But this time the paint worked beautifully. It took two coats, but it looks great!

Day 20 Summer July 1

2010-07-05T20:46:00.003-04:00

Well, I remember updating my blog in the morning. Becca was gone at the FDs and when I called she was happy to stay for an extra day. And I don't think she suspected a thing. Mid-morning Kenzie and I ran over to the MVs to borrow their carpet cleaner. We stayed to visit for a bit and it started to rain really hard, so no reason to leave until it was over. Kenzie and the girls were out in the rain and decided to just go with it since they were already wet. They had a great time jumping around on the trampoline in the rain. Wish I had gotten some pics! Shoot.

Kenzie and I stopped for lunch at Chick-fil-a, not a place we usually go and now I remember why. :) They put pickles on my sandwich unbeknownst to me and I ate one. Bleck!!! Days later and I'm still trying to get the taste out of my mouth. I like cucumbers, I like vinegar, I hate pickles!!

While Kenzie was at class, I headed back to the FDs to give Becca some more clothes and I had a nice long visit with Michelle. I love her! She is such a great friend to me. Of course we work together, but we teach at opposite ends of the school and she lives about 30 minutes away, so we don't get to see eachother that much other than an odd dinner out here and there and we nearly always have the kids with us. (Sorry for the run-on!) Becca and Rachel were engrossed in the TV in the other room, so we actually got to visit.

After I picked up Kenz we went home and started working on Becca's room some more. By we, I mean Mike and I because Kenzie didn't so jack squat! Ironic, considering it was her idea!!! I say that in jest, but really I was very irritated with her.

Mike finished painting and I did the trim and then I started to paint the accent wall. The walls are lavendar, Orchid actually and the accent wall is a raspberry color. Well the raspberry paint was like painting with grape juice. It looked horrible! Even with two coats!! So I decided to see if I could paint it lavendar and maybe that would block the orange better and then I could paint the raspberry. So I painted two coats of lavendar to cover the bright orange and then a coat of grape juice, oh I mean raspberry. Nope. So six coats of paint and it still looked bad. Like really super bad. Crappy in fact. Ugh.

So frustrating.

Day 19 Summer June 30

2010-07-05T20:33:00.003-04:00

If you have been following my posts you have probably been wondering what happened to my plan to clean a room each day. Well, it pretty much didn't happen. We managed to do four rooms. That's a partial success, right? After we decided to redo Becca's room, everything else kind of flew out the window. Life kind of happens like that, doesn't it?

Wednesday we left a little early for art class. We went to Tuesday Morning to return the comforter (I decided it was just too freaking heavy even though I love it), canisters (two were broken), and two chair cushions (not big enough). Then we stopped at Arby's to grab a bite before dropping Kenzie off. Then Becca and I went to JoAnn's to find some fabric for curtains and to Home Depot to look at paint chips. And then it was off to the FD's for a nice chat! Becca spent the night there so I headed back to Stuart on my own to get Kenz.

While driving back home I mentioned to Kenzie that the way I did Becca's room last time was that I sent her out with Mike for the day and I just did it! She had picked out the pink walls but nothing else was really gelling and she couldn't make up her mind! Of course, she was only five. Kenzie said we should just do that again. Send Becca away for a night or two and just surprise her with a new room. Crazy, but crazy enough to work! I had a good idea what Becca wanted having spent three days shopping, but she is just too picky! Or she picks things out that just don't go. Well, since Becca was already gone for at least one evening we decided to go for it. So Kenzie and I stopped by Home Depot and picked out the paint and we headed home. Surprise Mike! Guess what we are doing tonight???

It took an hour or so to clean out Becca's room and then we started to paint. Mike got two walls done and I got about half the trim painted. Not quite as far as I wanted, but a start. Wow. . . what did we get ourselves into??

Day 18 Summer June 29

2010-07-05T20:25:00.002-04:00

Tuesday I think we went to Tuesday Morning to return a few things but that might have been Wednesday. Okay, yeah I think that was Wednesday. So Tuesday? Hmmmm. . .

We must have taken Kenzie to class, then I think Becca and I went to Home Goods to look at some accessories for her room and to look for artwork. I think Becca found a silver box. Then I remember going to Kirkland, a place that just has artwork and accessories. It's really overwhelming but so cool. We found an art piece for Becca's room, black wrought iron tree type thing. Pictures may help. I'll work on that. And I found two pictures for my office. They are big, probably 30 X 30 each, beautifully framed, old maps. They go great with the wall color in there and with the carpet and they were only $35 each. Funny that two cheap pictures and a really cheap old carpet can make the room look like a million bucks!

I think Becca and I headed to Goodwill and the Salvation Army next and prety much struck out there. Oh yeah, I remembered more about Monday! I'll have to go back and fix that!

Day 17 Summer June 28

2010-07-05T20:19:00.003-04:00

Oh no! I got totally behind! Yikes.

Well, I may have forgotten some of the details, but I will try to do my best remembering what we did each day.

Monday I remember as Target Day! Becca and I dropped McKenzie off at art class and Becca and I headed for Target. While we were there, we finally found some bedding that Becca and I both agreed that we liked and the horse was finally out of the gate! With bedding we finally had a color scheme, theme, etc for redoing her room. Becca has been living with the same colors for five years - hot pink and orange - and it was time for a change. But every time we have been in a store she either doesn't like anything or the things she has liked do not go together at all. Like really, not at all.

I'm sure we were not at Target until 5 but I'm having a hard time remembering what we did after that. Wait. I think we went to Michael's first, then Target? Yeah, I'm drawing a blank.

After we picked up McKenzie we went back to Plato's Closet so Kenzie could look around. She wound up picking out 2 tank tops and two pairs of jeans for $16! And I found a necklace and earrings for $6! And I talked to my dad for a bit.

Then we met Mike at a new Mexican restaurant in Palm City. Pretty good food and very friendly waitstaff. We'll probably head back there since it's not too far from home.

And that night I remember watching The Bachelorette. One week! One stinking week and I can't remember jack crap. Getting old sucks.

Day 16 Summer June 27

2010-07-01T08:19:00.004-04:00

Another day when I planned to tackle the kitchen! What is it about the kitchen that I keep avoiding? It's not that bad! And the girls can help a lot with wiping counters, cabinets, etc. Ah, the art of procrastination!

Kiera came over to play with Becca around 11 and brought "Alice in Wonderland" with her, so I watched that with them. Pretty good, although it didn't seem to have much to do with the original book. Of course, I didn't really enjoy the book, so no big deal to me! Becca seemed to love it so that's good. She had been wanting to see it since it came to the big theater. Kenzie spent the day hibernating in her room and Mike has been reading tons. Some series Kenzie lent to him. So he spent the day hibernating in our room. :)

Kenz and I stayed up late to watch Design Star and Color Splash Miami! Gosh, I wish that was on earlier. There is no way I could stay up to midnight on a Sunday during the school year!

Day 15 Summer June 26

2010-07-01T08:11:00.003-04:00

Well the big plan today was to clean the kitchen and it never happened! I kept waiting for the cleaning urge to strike me and it just never did! And of course, my family never gets the urge to clean! I did get caught up on all the laundry. That's worth something, right?

Mike went golfing early in the morning and I took Kenzie to her drawing class at 10:30. Oops. It started at 10? Really? We are signed up for the Friday afternoon class but rescheduled because of Kenz's art class. Oh well, she got a little bit of time anyway. The girls and I stopped by Sam's Club on the way home to do some grocery shopping and get gas.

In the evening we met Michelle and Rachel at Port St Lucie High School to see "The Sound of Music." I thought it was delightful. The girl playing Maria went to St Lucie West when I was first teaching there and I remember how well she could sing the National Anthem. Well she has improved even more and she was very very good. It was a really amazing production for a high school. They actually use kids from all over the county, so I guess they get to choose the best of the best, but it is still really amazing. Afterwords we went out for pie at Perkins, something we used to do as kids all the time. Yum, strawberry pie!!

Day 14 Summer June 25

2010-07-01T07:59:00.003-04:00

So today we planned on tackling the kitchen but we ditched the cleaning project and headed to the beach with friends. After all, what is summer for?

The girls and I headed out around 11 and stopped at Subway for lunch before pulling into Jensen Beach. It was already very warm, probably close to 90. The water was refreshing, but the surf was pretty rough, so I didn't stay in for long. Our beach umbrella broke last summer and I really need to get a new one if we are going to go to the beach very often. Thanks to my friends for providing me some shade! Otherwise, I wouldn't make it more than 10 minutes! It was fun visiting with Sophie, Claudia, Dawn, Kathy and Jen, my school peeps. The girls had fun, too and we didn't even get suburned this time!

We left at 1 to take Kenzie to her class (which is just down the road). Then Becca and I headed to the movie theater in Stuart. We were just in time to see Shrek 3D. We were the only ones in the whole theater which Becca thought was pretty cool. Cute movie, but two hours of 3D gave me a bit of a headache. I wonder what they will do when the movie goes to video? Will it just be normal or can you watch it on your TV in 3D? Just curious. . .

The movie was over at 3:15 so Becca and I had a bit of time to kill. We ended up dinking around at the Treasure Coast Hospice Thrift Store. I actually got a really cute purse there for $6. It looks brand new and it's a great summer look which I had been searching for. If I get really ambitious I'll snap a photo of it.

The girls and I picked up a pizza at Little Caesar's on the way home and spent the evening vegging out. Why is it that sunshine can take so much out of you?

Day 13 Summer June 24

2010-06-28T10:05:00.004-04:00

Today we tidied up McKenzie's room. Since we re-did her room last November (and removed half of her belongings!) she has done a really good job of keeping things tidy. We mostly just went through her dresser and cleaned up the stuff that had migrated under her bed. I still need to take pictures of that room all tidied up!

In the afternoon Becca and I . . . let's see. . . what did we do?? It's funny how the summer days just seem to run together! I believe we ate at the CK Bakery (which used to be the Atlanta Bread Company). It was pretty good. Behind the bakery used to be a little thrift shop where I got a cabinet for my dining room about five years ago. Well, it's not there anymore! So we headed up the road and ended up at Tuesday Morning which my friend Tanya had suggested we stop by. Well, thanks to Tanya, I dropped about $300! Yikes!! The big ticket item was a King-size comforter set and sheets. I've been looking for months and I really love the comforter, but I'm still not sure. The truth is that 8 months out of the year, we only need to sleep with a sheet or light blanket. So having a comforter on the bed looks nice, but it's really just for show since we would need to pull it off the bed each night!. What I have now is a duvet cover with no duvet in it. The weight is just right for most of the year. The issue is that our mattress is sooooo thick (22 inches) it's nearly impossible to find a blanket or comforter that will cover the whole thing! And there just aren't many California King duvet covers on the market. Of course, I could always sew something. . . Anyway, we also picked up some decorative pillows and some odds and ends craft stuff.

Then it was off to Goodwill to look for shorts for McKenzie. She has been growing so fast the past year or two that she grows out of her clothes way before she wear them out. Not such a big problem except for this week when she has needed junky clothes to wear to her art class. It was a lot of work but Becca and I waded through rack after rack of high waisted, pastel colored, pleated shorts to find three pairs that we thought would work for Kenzie! (And you will be happy to hear that all three fit her!!) Becca and I also found this really great consignment shop called Plato's Closet. Their niche is carrying teenage clothes for boys and girls. Bonanza for us! We'll have to take Kenzie there soon so that she can check it out. I expected to see jeans, tops, shoes and bags but what I didn't expect were to stacks of young adult novels for $2! What a great deal! So Becca and I brought home a big sack of books for $30!

Thursday night we watched So You Think You Can Dance and a rerun of Glee! which we all love and adore (we have all four albums and Becca plays them constantly).

Okay, I will add the photos of the comforter and you can tell me which look you prefer. . .

The first one is a red coverlet that we have had, the second is the reverse side of the new comforter and the third one is the floral side of the new comforter. Is it too much? Kenzie thinks it makes the carpet look dirty (although you can't really tell in the picture).

New comforter. . . please excuse the mess! We haven't gotten to this room yet!

Day 12 Summer June 23

2010-06-24T22:03:00.003-04:00

Day 3 of the Clean the Whole House Challenge!! and the winner is. . . the Laundry Room! All right, this isn't going to be as scary as it sounds. I'm actually pretty good at keeping up on laundry. It wasn't always this way, of course! I didn't have a washer and dryer on premises until 2000. I spent all my years of college and the first five years of my marriage at the laundry mat! Wow. Good times. Not.

At any rate, I'm good now. I have front loaders that can do BIG loads of laundry, so even if I fall behind a little, it's pretty easy to catch up. The kids are required to bring their laundry to the master bedroom and sort it. I take care of washing/drying/folding/hanging. Then everyone has to pick up their laundry from the laundry room. Out of all the chores, it's my favorite. Not that I love it, just that I don't dislike it as much as other chores. :)

Basically all I needed to do was tidy up the shelves and scrub down surfaces (which I made the girls do!). I did, however, pull the front panel off the dryer and clean out all the lint. I also pulled it from the wall and cleaned the back hose part out. It's a pain, but I'm glad I did it. The laundry room looks basically the same as it has since we moved in when I put in the countertop and the shelves. It's desperate for a coat of paint. I don't want white. Any suggestions??

So while Kenzie was at art class Becca and I went to lunch at Steak n' Shake, went shopping and took care of some returns! Fun stuff, huh? I really should take the girl to a movie or something. We started at Michael's and bought a few things for craft projects. Becca wants so much to be talented at something. And she's just not. I know, I'm gonna get fired from the Mom Club. My daughter is beautiful, smart, and a very kind person, but if God has given her any artistic ability, He is keeping it a secret. The girl can't dance, sing, draw, etc. She is actually a pretty decent writer but she doesn't really enjoy it. I'll let you know how the craft thing goes. . .

After Michael's we headed to Kohl's to return a pair of shorts and a shirt that I had gotten Becca for her birthday that she didn't care for. Her style changes from minute to minute, so it wasn't a big surprise. I think she liked the shorts but they were too small and I think she may have kind of liked the shirt, but it fit kind of funny. While there, we found some earrings on clearance. I LOVE Kohl's. Especially the jewelry section! You can always find something that's just darling and it will be on clearance for like two dollars. Love it.

Then it was off to Home Goods to return the lamps (bye beauties!) and to TJ Maxx to return two little decorative plates that I decided I didn't need. Then we grabbed a drink and headed back to pick up Kenzie. Here's what she was up to:

It's her acrylic version of the apples! Pretty cool, huh? One of them kind of looks like a nectarine, but the shading is really good, I think. She is enjoying her class. Way better than hibernating in her room which is what she did all last week!

Day 11 Summer June 22

2010-06-24T09:52:00.004-04:00

Drum roll, please! Today the room we attacked was the . . .

DINING ROOM!!

I was happy about that, because the dining room is pretty under control already and after tackling the office yesterday I really wasn't looking forward to cleaning another room! but I also know that the cleaning needs to get done! One wall of the dining room serves as a craft room with all my art/scrapbooking supplies. Shockingly, that area is pretty tidy, probably because I do very little crafting these days! So really all that needed to be done is clean the table off, mop the floor and dust some shelves. So here it is. . .

The cabinet against the wall holds all my stamps! Stamps that haven't seen the light of day for months! The table is from a yard sale in Austin. It actually has another leaf that allows it to expand to 108 inches. And the chairs are also from a yard sale with chair covers that I sewed last summer. the curtains have been up for 4 years or so. I have always wondered if I should find curtains that go all the way to the floor or do they look ok the way they are?

In the afternoon we stopped by Pei Wei on the way to Kenzie's art class. Rebecca wrote about Pei Wei for a homework assignment (it was a descriptive writing activity about your favorite restaurant) several months ago and I happened to mention it on a post on PeiWei's Facebook page. A marketing assistant contacted me and sent Becca $30 in gift certificates and a coupon for free lettuce wraps!! See? Doing your homework does pay off!! So lunch today cost us $0.87!

Kenzie worked on apples at her art class today and Becca and I went shopping!! We hit a consignment shop (we struck out there), Home Goods and TJ Maxx, and a shoe store. I picked out two new lamps from HomeGoods that I love, but ended up taking back. They were crystal and chrome with gray organza shades and I really did love them, but I didn't love the way they looked in my bedroom, so back they went. At TJ Maxx Becca found some more shorts and a cute top and I found a knit top in a pretty raspberry color. Three hours of shopping was hard on us. Becca and I both ended up with aching feet!!

Day 10 Summer June 21

2010-06-24T09:19:00.007-04:00

Officially the first day of summer! Day 10 for us!

Have you wondered why I am blogging every day of our summer, even when it is incredibly boring??? Well, I always feel like at the end of the summer it has just gone so fast and that outside of some traveling we don't do anything. It's so easy to just relax, stay in the jammies, watch TV all day. You know how it is. But summer should be an opportunity to catch up on life and build some memories too. So I thought if I blogged each day first it would help me remember what we did since it seems to all blur together, and second it would force me and the girls to get up and do stuff because I would be embarrassed to have nothing to blog day after day!

Another brilliant plan I came up with was to pick a room each day and with the girls help, clean it from top to bottom. After two weeks we should have hit every nook and cranny and have a clean, perfectly organized home. That's the plan anyway. So I wrote 10 rooms on the back of index cards and the girls have chosen one each day. So today the girls picked the office. Yikes.

Ever since I got a laptop (about two years ago) I stay out of the office. I use my laptop in the living room, sitting in a comfy chair. It's way better than sitting in an uncomfortable office chair with my feet dangling. Inevitably, my feet would always fall asleep! So this room belongs almost exclusively to Mike and Becca (Kenzie uses her ITouch in her room for her communications fix). Of course, since I don't use this room, I don't clean it! Of course I nag on Mike and Becca once in a while to clean up and occasionally they vacuum or file something, but mostly it is just a disaster with precarious piles everywhere. So our first room is also the worst in the house.

The office has a long countertop (ten feet long) on one side of the room where the two computers and the printer sit and on the opposite wall is a gigantic bookcase with 25 cubbies. Great for storage but it tends to get cluttered. So the girls and I emptied everything from the office into the living room and cleaned and then put everything back. It took two full hours to clean and then the whole evening to organize. We still need to clean and organize the drawers and cabinets under the computer but it's tons better. A design question for you. . . does the window need curtains or drapes or are the 2-inch wooden blinds enough?

Today was also the first day of McKenzie's art camp. Camp runs from 1:30 to 5:00 Monday thru Friday for two weeks. It's about 40 minutes from our house to the Elliott Museum where the class is. A long drive but ultmimately worth it I am hoping. That means Becca and I will have to entertain ourselves each afternoon because it's really too far to drive home. So today we walked around the Eliott Museum, got a pedicure (me) and manicure (Becca) and then went to the mall for an hour. We ate pretzels, bought two candles at the Old Yankee store and found some shorts and underwear for Becca at JCPenney. Then we headed back to pick up Kenzie.

The instructor is a lovely, warm, older lady with long, iron-gray hair pulled back into a bun. Kenzie impressed her with her drawing abilities. On the first day Kenzie sketched a plant with charcoals, played with clay and then used black and white acrylics to paint the plant. Busy. McKenzie is only 12 but she comes across to others as very mature and she is so very tall that people constantly think she is much older. Her teacher thought that McKenzie was a sophomore. Yikes! I'm having enough issues with her being a teenager in a few months. Don't give me a heart attack!

Day 9 Summer June 20

2010-06-23T22:52:00.002-04:00

Father's Day!!

So we woke up at the hotel in Stuart near the beach. We headed to the pool for a morning swim (the pool water had to be close to 90) and then checked out at 11. We headed for home to check on the doggie. She was fine and happy to see us! Thanks to our wonderful neighbors, the Chase Family, for always keeping an eye on her when we are gone!

Our day was pretty chill. Mike didn't want to go out for lunch or dinner, so I made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. We did manage to clean out all of our closets and get all the laundry done. Unfortunately for me I found that I have 3 tubs of clothes that no longer fit!! Yikes. We ventured out later in the day to grab some groceries. It was a great reminder of why I avoid Walmart at all costs!! It's always crazy busy with long lines, crying babies, whiny kids, and the produce just sucks.

We picked up a rotisserie chicken for dinner along with some other staples and headed home. Hmmmmm. . . oh yeah, we watched "The Empire Strikes Back!" There was a Star Wars marathon on the Spike channel (??) a couple of weeks ago and Mike and I and Rebecca spent the whole day watching Star Wars. Yes, an entire day. The marathon started at 9 am and ended at 4am the next day!!! Needless to say we did not make it through all of them. Star Wars movies are long anyway but with commercials they are realllllllly long. I made it through Episodes 1, 2 and 3 and the original Star Wars before heading to bed at 10. Mike and Becca were determined to watch "The Empire Strikes Back" but neither made it very long, maybe an hour at the most. So we put the last two movies on our Netflix queue and waited for them to show up. So we finally got a chance to watch it. The big difference for me was when Luke finds out at the end of the movie that Darth Vader is his father. Originally I remember being as freaked out as Luke! It was absolutely shocking!! Beyond comprehension even. But having watched the prequel, it wasn't any big deal. Kind of took something away in my opinion. Next weekend it will be "The Return of the Jedi!!"

Day 8 Summer June 19

2010-06-20T17:04:00.002-04:00

Well we woke up early to watch the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean, but it was too cloudy to really see much. Oh well!

We walked on the beach for a bit and then it started to heat up and my tummy started to growl so we found a little restaurant in Stuart to have breakfast. Alice's, it is called and it looks like it has been around for a long time. We were the youngest patrons by a good 40 years! Funny.

Then we went back to the hotel to check out and check into a different room (from a King to Double-Double) and went home to check on Sophie. There was a major storm and she gets kind of freaked out. Plus we had left her inside the night before so we didn't want ot have to clean up any messes. We hung out with Soph for a couple hours and took care of some housework before we picked up Becca from Amanda's and Kenzie from the Civic Center (where Lauren was playing basketball) and headed south again. We ate lunch at Pei Wei (of course) and headed to the hotel. In the parking lot we ran into a teacher (and good friend) from school who was doing the stay-cation thing too. In the evening we got some snacks at Publix, swam a little and watched a movie. A nice evening with the family all in all.

Day 7 Summer June 18

2010-06-20T16:48:00.003-04:00

A momentous day. . . my 15th wedding anniversary!!

Wow. Hard to believe it has been that long and that I am old enough to have been married that long! Crazy. In fifteen years we have lived in 9 homes and five cities, had two kids and one dog. Nine homes?? That means we had to pack and move 8 times!! and that was in the first 10 years, because we have been in our house for 5 years now.

So how did we spend our special day? Running around two counties mostly! The girls and I had plans to spend the morning at the beach with schoolmates. I picked up Rachel on the way because Michelle has SHINGLES (!!!) and won't be able to get out much for a few days. She feels pretty good considering. . . So then we drove down to Bathtub Beach (in Martin County) but there were no spots left in the parking lot! So after a few frantic cell phone calls it was decided that we would all meet at Jensen Beach which is about 7 or 8 miles north of Bathtub. So we got to the beach around 11. I really did consider taking pictures but there is NO FREAKING WAY I am bringing my new Canon to the beach and I can't find my little Canon with the cracked LCD screen. So no pictures. I know. I suck.

I spent about an hour and a half in the water because it was way too hot to sit on the beach in the hot sand. That was enough beach time for me. I don't know how other people can stay for hours and hours. I'm good for about two hours, max. And even slathered in sunscreen I still managed to burn my back and shoulders. Crap. Two days later and it is still sore and starting to itch!

We stopped and got burgers and headed back home. That is another thing I never do. We never bring food to the beach. Been there and done that and ate enough sand that I have never done it again! We got home around 2 o'clock and Mike was already home. Yeah! Everyone took a shower and then we packed everyone up for their night away from home. We dropped Becca off at her friend Amanda's house (I just adore her family. . . They are so nice and their house is adorable!) took Kenzie to art class, took Rachel home and visited with Michelle, went to pick Kenzie up and dropped her off at Lauren's house and then headed south to Stuart for our night away. (I love Lauren's mom, too!)

Mike and I ate at the Thai Basil Garden in Stuart and then headed over the causeway to the Marriott Hotel on Hutchinson Island. We had a lovely evening on our own and even got to watch a grown-up movie that I would never be able to watch at home (well only on the laptop with headphones): The Hangover. Basic grossout humor but with a plot! Very funny and recommended by both Mike and me.

Mike's gift to me was some fabulous caramel popcorn with nuts (I'm sure there's a better name for it, but it's like Super Crunch n Munch) and a caramel apple from Kilwin's. Unfortunately Mike ate most of it! LOL! And I have another gift coming that is in the mail. . .

Day 6 Summer June 17

2010-06-20T16:41:00.004-04:00

Well, looking back, we didn't do much of nothin' on Thursday. The only eventful thing that I remember was making butter chicken for dinner, which was really amazing. Try it out if you haven't ever made it. It's really pretty dang easy. You marinate some chicken in lime juice and spices (I never remember to do this, so my chicken only sits like ten minutes and it's still just fine). Then you saute an onion in butter, add the chicken and saute a little longer. Add a can of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato sauce and let it all simmer about 20 minutes. At the end you stir in some cream and serve it over rice. See? Not too difficult! And absolutely delicious. If you leave out the cream it might even be kind of, sort of healthy.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen-blog/2010/02/a-tasty-recipe-butter-chicken/

Day 5 Summer June 16

2010-06-17T21:55:00.002-04:00

Well I got the kids out of the house by 10 to get to McK's dental appointment. The chain across her front teeth snapped on Tuesday and within a couple hours she had a gap between two of her teeth. Oops. Definitely needed to be taken care of. While there I ran into an old student and her family. It's nice to know that I have made an impact! Sometimes it really feels more like I beat my head against a wall!

After the dentist the girls and I headed to Tradition. The girls don't have much for summer clothes. In fact they both wore long jeans to the dentist. Crazy! When we got in the car after the dentist appt. the car said it was 113! Ha Ha. It wasn't that hot of course, but it was still super warm. Over 90 and incredibly humid. We made it to two stores before the girls started to beg for lunch: Old Navy and TJ Maxx. Becca finaly found some shorts! She is hard to fit. She is very narrow with a tiny waist but has a bigger butt and thighs than a slim. So most things are too big in the waist or too tight in the thighs. Definitely a Mayo. McKenzie is in a junior size 5 now. And both girls found some T-shirts. I'll try to remember to take some pictures to post.

We ate lunch at Wicked Burger. It was delicious (and yes I stayed away from the girl's soda) but their a/c was out and we ended up eating outside. It was shady and they had fans going, but I was still soaked in sweat by the time we were done so we headed home. The girls and I ended up watching "The Blind Side." We all enjoyed it and none of us cried. I kept hearing from everyone who saw it to be prepared to cry. What is wrong with us? We must be hard-hearted or something!

Day 4 Summer June 15

2010-06-16T17:03:00.002-04:00

Day 4 and I must admit that I was, dare I say it? Bored. Yep, it's true. I didn't feel much like cleaning or housework and I don't have many projects going, so I didn't do much at all! Mike and I did take the dog for a walk. We did it before the sun was up and it was still pretty warm. The humidity has been terrible. The temp may only say 90 but the heat index is around 105. Nasty stuff. What I wouldn't give for a pool!!!

I ran out of Pepsi Sunday and forgot to buy some at the store so I figured maybe it was a sign that I should try giving it up. I had a can of Pepsi with lunch on Monday but none Tuesday, so by Tuesday night I had a pretty killer headache. And there wasn't anything on TV so I mostly laid in bed and read a book. Fun stuff huh? I should be caught up on sleep!

Oh, I did paint the patched wall in the master bath. We tore part of the wall out behind the shower over spring break to fix a leak. I had patched it, but never gotten around to painting it, so I did take care of that. Now I need to paint the baseboard and replace it. I really should paint all of the woodwork. All the trim in the house is a flat builder's white. The house is six years old now and the baseboards are looking pretty sad and beat up and they could all use a coat of fresh paint (as well as the doors) but that just sounds like a LOT of work, so I keep putting it off. I need to just do it!

Day 3 Summer June 14

2010-06-15T07:41:00.002-04:00

Started the day very early, at 4 am! Yuck. I let the dog out and she ended up terrorizing a monarch butterfly on the back porch. Nothing quite like a barking dog at 4 am to make your neighbors love you. I fell back to sleep around 5:30, but had to get up to go to work anyway. Double yuck. I spent 8 to 12:30 at school doing some instuctional planning for next year with other teachers. They fed us breakfast and lunch and I will get paid, so not too bad overall.

Got home and rallied the troops to do a little cleaning. Got most of the laundry done and Kenzie helped with the kitchen and Becca helped here and there. My house needs to be deep-cleaned from top to bottom and I need to do a LOT of organizing (closets, drawers, shelves, etc), so it's hard to not go crazy and just tear evrything apart, but I'm trying to keep my cool. :)

I got Kenzie signed up for a Fine Arts camp at the Elliott Museum for the next two weeks. The classes are in Stuart (about 35 minute drive) from 1:30 to 5:00, so Becca and I will need to find stuff to keep us busy. It's too far to come back home, but I'm sure we'll find things to do. And Kenzie will really love the opportunity to learn and hang out with other kids with similar interests.

Around 3 a kid showed up at my door to apologize. A few nights ago we were woken up around 3 am by a policeman letting us know that our car had been spray painted in the middle of the night. (FUC U written on the back window of Mike's car) Several cars and houses were spray painted. The paint came off pretty easy with WD40. We got a call a couple days later that the person had been caught but I didn't ask for particulars but we figured it was just a few teenagers pulling a prank. It turned out to be a black kid, probably about 13 or 14. His aunt was taking him around the neighborhood to apologize and to offer to clean up any damages. Apparently he just moved in a couple streets over. I have a lot of respect for that aunt driving that kid around in the heat of the day to take responsibility for his actions. Good for her! I hope the kid appreciates her. In my line of work I see a lot of apathetic parents.

Becca had a neighbor boy over for the afternoon (too hot to play outside--heat index 104!). They played Wii for a couple hours. She kicked his butt in the Family Feud but he did better with the Summer Games or whatever it is called. We'll have to set up some more play dates especially for Kenzie who hibernated in her room all day. Becca is much better at picking up the phone and calling friends. Kenzie texts a bit, but doesn't spend much time on the phone.

For dinner we had Chicken and Green Beans with Spicy Orange Sauce (America's Test Kitchen again)and strawberries and mangos with whipped cream. Super Yum and fairly healthy (except for the whole whipped cream thing). I've lost two pounds this week. Only about 50 to go! Ha Ha. Then Becca and I watched The Bachelorette. Not sure why I keep watching. It's an illness I guess! I just love it! Even while knowing that The Biggest Loser and Survivor have better matchmaking rates. Right now my money is on Roberto or Kurt.

Day 2 Summer June 13

2010-06-14T13:54:00.002-04:00

Got up early again to take the dog for a walk. It's not fun getting up early in the summer, but if we don't get a walk in by 8 am, it just ain't gonna happen!

Let's see, oh yeah, I was going to make pancakes because we had some strawberries to use up and then Mike suggested waffles. YUM, I thought. Uh oh, no pancake mix. Now for the most part, I do not use mixes; I prefer to make things from scratch. But I find that the pancake mix where you just add water is every bit as good as from scratch. Unfortunately, I was out of mix. So I dig out my fave cookbook, America's Test Kitchen, and peruse the ingredients. Uh oh, no milk. Seriously?? If you read yesterday's post you will recall that I was too smelly to go to the grocery store. Oops. So I ended up making oatmeal-cranberry cookies. Yeah, I'm not quite sure how I came up with that either, but the family was happy. Except Becca who picked the dried cranberries out of hers. Oh well. . .

We did finally make it to Sam's Club later in the day. And we made it out for about $100 which is really good for us. We got steaks, snacks, fruit, etc. So for dinner we had rib-eyes, grilled mushrooms, corn-on-the-cob and fresh sliced mango. Delish!

It was also my mom's birthday!! And Michelle's high school graduation! It's rough being so far away during all these celebrations. I just feel so disconnected from our families. At first it seemed like it might be temporary, but we haven't lived within a day's drive in over 7 years now. At least when we lived in Utah we could drive up. It took a full day but it was possible. Now we are 3700 miles away and we are limited to once yearly visits. This year we fly out on July 8 and we come back on July 26.

DAY 1 Summer!

2010-06-13T09:41:00.003-04:00

Got up early and took the dog for a walk with Mike and Kenzie. It was already HOT!

Becca was over at Kiera's house on a sleepover. Mike and Kenzie and I took Sophie to the Farmer's Market in Fort Pierce. Picked up some bread and veggies. It was hot there too, even though it's right on the water.

We decided we were too sweaty and gross to stop at Sam's Club so we went home.

Took Becca to a pool party at a schoolmate's house at 12 and then ran to the post office to mail some paperbackswap books and my mom's birthday gifts (and dad's father's day card). Mike and I went to BerryFresh Cafe for lunch and then picked up Becca at pool party.

What I wouldn't give for a pool right now!! The Heat index is over 100 everyday and it's just miserable to be out in it. Canada sounds good right now.

Becca got a little gift in the mail today! A couple weeks ago I mentioned on Pei Wei's Facebook page that my daughter had gotten a A+ on an assignment where she had to write about her favorite restaurant. One of Pei Wei's marketing people contacted me for our address and he sent Becca $30 in gift cards and a coupon for free lettuce wraps! See, it does pay to do your homework!

Spent the evening reading and went to bed early! Exciting start to vacation! Okay, maybe not. But it feels good anyway!

Installing a Husband

2010-02-09T20:55:00.004-05:00

A friend sent me the following email. I thought that it was hilarious, so I forwarded it to Mike. His response to it follows.

INSTALLING A HUSBAND

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.

Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,
Desperate.

DEAR DESPERATE,

First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.

If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1.

Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Farting and Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.. We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck!

Mike's response:

System Check.

Husband 1.0 - running

Romance 9.5 – not optimally configured, check settings

Personal Attention 6.5 – not optimally configured, check settings

NBA 5.0 – not installed

NFL 3.0 – unobtrusive background program

Golf Clubs 4.1 - unobtrusive background program
Conversation 8.0 – An outdated version was detected

Housecleaning 2.6 - Version 1.3 detected

Nagging 5.3 – runs concurrently with Housecleaning 1.3

Tears 6.2 - runs concurrently with Housecleaning 1.3

Guilt 3.0 – a critical error was detected, hit continue to close program

Jewelry 2.0 – application missing

Flowers 3.5 – overwritten by Sam’s Club Arrangement 1.0
Grumpy Silence 2.5 – runs concurrently with Nagging 5.3

Happy Hour 7.0 – runs sporadically

Beer 6.1 – operates in safe mode
Mother-In-Law 1.0 – virus not detected

Cooking 3.0 – optimally configured

Hot Lingerie 7.7 - An outdated version was detected

Where does the time go?

2010-02-07T18:55:00.002-05:00

I can't believe I haven't posted since October. Crazy! The days just seem to fly by!

In November I went through a big cleaning fit, so I can honestly say I was too busy to post much and really, who wants to read about how we cleaned out our closet or how we organized the garage? I did spend one entire week overhauling McKenzie's room. We pulled out everything, YES, everything, and shampooed her carpet and painted the walls a soft apple green. then we got rid of three-quarters of her stuff and put the rest back in! It's much easier for her to keep tidy and she has been spending a lot more time in there since. Practicing for the teenager years, I guess.

December saw the usual flurry of holiday shopping, decorating, baking, planning, wrapping, etc. My parents were able to come from Christmas Eve to New Year's Eve and we spent a few days with them in Cape Coral, Florida, at a very nice resort. It was nice to get away. I wish we did it more on regular weekends, but getting behind on chores and laundry always freaks me out. I feel like if I let it get out of control I will never be able to rein it in again!

I have no idea where January went! Becca got a Wii for Christmas and she has been playing with that a lot. Kenzie spent a lot of time texting on her new cell phone and Mike was busy working on a grant. But what the heck did I do?? I used the Wii Fit for the first two weeks of January and then stopped. I have felt like a deflated balloon for about 3 or 4 weeks. Just no energy. I thought I was fighting something off, but maybe it's something else? Iron deficiency or something? Not sure. In November and December I was getting so much done on the weekends. The house was clean, I was getting errands done, rearranged the dining room and living room, etc. But I can't think of any accomplishments since Jan. 1!! Oh well, life is a rollercoaster right? With its ups and downs. . .

I'll try to keep up with my blog a little better. Although we don't have much new to report these days! Life is just a constant circle of school, work and chores! But if we have any signficant deviations, I'll let you know!

McKenzie's 16th Birthday present

2009-10-27T13:02:00.004-04:00

So Mike finally broke down and bought a new car!

His 1999 Chrysler Concorde has served us well. We bought it in June 2003 when we moved to Austin. We had survived with only one car for 8 years but without the public transportation options we had in Seattle, we had to go to two cars. We bought the Concorde with 60,000 miles and as of Saturday the car had over 160,000 miles. I wish I could say that Mike was going to miss his car, but I don't think so! He has a 35 mile commute to work so he spends a lot of time in his car.

The new car, a 2010 Toyota Camry, is kind of similar to his old car. Dark red, four doors, tan leather interior, and moonroof. Wait! It is exactly like his old car! Honestly it doesn't look that different than the old car except for it's about 5 feet shorter, it hasn't faded to pink on the top and the passenger door actually opens. Oh, and the new one has a lot less miles on it!

Rebecca has been Mike's car buying assistant for the past month or so. On their first car buying expedition, Becca interviewed Mike about what he wanted in a car and wrote of list of what he wanted so that she could show it to the salesmen. She would also take pictures of the cars that they would look at and write down notes as they did some test drives. What a great helper. Kenzie went along once but apparently didn't understand the car buying rules. She felt it necessary to tell the salespeople what bad shape Mike's old car was in and how bad he needed a new one. Mike felt it necessary to tell Kenzie to shut up!!

I must admit I didn't go on these trips. The car really is Mike's. I can count on one hand the number of times I have driven his car in the last year. The car he ended up buying he brought to the house and I got a chance to drive it around the neighborhood and give final approval before Mike made the final decision. I still think it's funny how much this car is like his old one!

Getting Ready for Halloween!

2009-10-18T15:46:00.003-04:00

It's been a busy day around here for us! It has finally cooled off enough to spend a day outside. this is the first day we have been able to turn the a/c off since April! October has been terribly warm this year with highs in the 90s every day. Finally a little relief from the heat.

I baked some cookies this morning and threw in a load of laundry and then started working on Becca's costume. She has a dress that I made for her that she wants to wear. It's way too short now, so I made a petticoat to go under the dress that reaches the floor. I spruced up the ribbons, added some fancier sleeves and "Voila!" a princess dress!

For McKenzie I got out an old scarecrow costume out of the attic, one that I wore before I had kids. Kenzie is just about the same size I was way back in the day so with a few modifications it will fit the bill. The original had pants, a tunic and a really darling hat and neck thing with patches on it. Her version has a skirt instead and a vest, both of which I whipped up this afternoon.

Mike spent the morning sprucing up the yard, pulling weeds, putting out mulch etc. Now he is working on cutting out some wooden pumpkins for the girls to paint. We still plan on carving pumpkins but around here the carved pumpkins only last a few hours before they start to melt in the heat. So we saw some painted pumpkins at a craft show a couple weeks ago and though how fun it would be to paint our own version and put them out in the yard. That way we could show a little Halloween spirit for longer than one day.

Other than that, we have been crazy busy with work and school. Both the girls have a lot more homework this year and I have a lot more responsibilities as a team leader and member of the Building Level Planning Team and union representative for our school. Mike's job keeps him as busy as ever, so it doesn't leave a lot of time of weeknights for much of anything other than dinner!

First Day of School 2009

2009-08-30T14:02:00.002-04:00

Heading to Universal

2009-08-08T11:21:00.002-04:00

Well the girls are off to Universal with friends. I was supposed to leave with them this morning but I wasn't feeling well, so I decided to catch up with them later. I have had a very upset crampy stomach since Thursday. Not fun.

So Mike has been gone all week to Spokane visiting his family. His mother's surgery went fairly well. The surgeon was able to get most of the tumor but decided to leave the part that was wrapped around the motor cortex. Carol will need some radiation to help it reduce further. The biopsy showed that the tumor was not malignant but not exaclty benign. This type of tumor has a 30-40% chance of recurrence.

Carol got home from the hospital yesterday (Friday). She is still suffering some weakness on her right side which will hopefully go away when the swelling in her brain subsides. As for now, she is having problems with her right foot not cooperating. Hopefully a little physical therapy and she will be as good as new!

Mike is flying back today and I will be picking him up at the Orlando airport at 12:38 am. Ugh. I'm such a good wife. So the plan was to spend the day in Orlando at Universal with the MVs and the FDs and then pick up Mike at the airport and stay to play on Sunday and Monday. Slight change of plans for me. I woke up feeling fine, my stomach just a bit bloated but by the time I got out of the shower I was so cramped up I couldn't stand up straight. So I took some Advil and Gas-X (couldn't hurt, right?) and sat down but it didn't really go away. Claudia came and got the kids and I went back to bed. An hour of bedrest really helped.

The doctor prescribed something to help so we'll have to cross our fingers and hope for the best. good thing for insurance. The prescription was $512!! Copay was $50. Yikes. Walmart didn't even carry the stuff so I had to go to Walgreens. Anyway hopefully everything will work itself out soon. Otherwise I'm going to have a very hard time going back to work.

So off to Orlando soon. Will post pics later. And yes I still plan on posting the rest of our vacation pics but I promised myself I would get my chair covers done before I worked on anything else. Three done, three to go. At this rate the vacation pics should be up by Christmas!!

What's Up? you ask

2009-08-04T22:44:00.002-04:00

Well maybe you weren't asking, but if you are visiting my blog, there's a chance you might be mildly interested. . .

Carol's surgery lasted four and a half hours yesterday. The surgeon was able to remove 95% of the tumor. He left the part that had grown into the motor cortex, not wanting to deal with those kind of side effects. The tumor was more aggressive than anticipated and it looks like Carol will need at least a round or two of radiation. Another side effect has been some reduced mobility on the right side. Although Mike did tell us that his mom could feed herself with her right hand she was not able to control her right foot. So no walking as of yet. So it is not the perfect outcome, but it is what it is and way better than it could be. We shall be cautiously optismistic.

As for us? Well I got about two hours of sleep last night. I will have to admit I slipped up and had way too much Pepsi yesterday and it appeared to make me wired. So I brought it on myself. ugh. But I had to get up because I promised Claudia to pick her up from the RV repairshop at 9. So I picked her up, dropped her off at home, grabbed Kacey and headed back home. Neither Kenzie nor Becca wanted to get out of bed to play with Kacey!! Lazy butts. Finally Becca got her butt out of bed around 10:30. Claudia and Carlie came by around noon and brought pizza for lunch. The girls played, we visited, we ate, the usual. Then Claudia took pity on me and took my kids back home so I could take a nap. I love you Claudia.

I wish I could say I was super productive but this morning was just a haze. My washing machine is acting up and I ordered a new drain pump for it. I hope I can install it myself and I hope that fixes it. Thirty minutes after ordering the part, I went to fold clothes and now my dryer is on the blink. No heat. Just tumbles round and round blowing cold air. Great. So I think I will be calling a repairman for that one. Ugh. If it isn't one thing, it's another. If I hadn't already ordered the part I would have been at Jetsons buying a new washer and dryer!!! I can't stand unreliable appliances. I can't even stand thinking about the laundry piling up. It drives me nuts.

So after my nap I took Claudia back to the RV place and picked up the kids. Then I finished my third chair cover. Half done!! Yeah. And then the girls and I tackled the living room. We dusted from top to bottom, vacuumed everything that didn't move (and even a few things that were moving around), and cleaned the leather couches and ottoman. Not fun but needed to be done. And I am kind of freaking out thinking about going back to work with a house that is in shambles. I feel no motivation to do housework when I get home from a long day at work. Who does? Actually I feel no motivation to do it in the summer either, but in my head I know it's easier to do now.

After cleaning I watched Eighteen Kids and Counting which always astounds me. How that woman can function without ever losing her cool I do not understand. Yet I envy her unflappableness (sure, that's a word. Trust me.) And we watched the Little Couple who went to the doctor to see if she should have a baby. I get the desire but her stomach is about 3 inches long. And I know how uncomfortable it is to have a kid pushing against your ribs and your bladder at the same time. I was one that never "dropped." There wasn't anywhere to drop to!!

Ah, eleven o'clock, and it's definitely bed time. Even with an hour long nap, I am seriously sleep deprived. Plus I should call Mike. I haven't talked to him since about two o'clock. And he's very old fashioned; he doesn't believe in boys calling girls. He thinks it is very forward. Whatever. He just never calls me because he sucks. Love you Honey!!

Sometimes I amaze myself!

2009-08-03T13:18:00.002-04:00

So here is a photo of my dining room chairs. I bought six of them plus a 108 inch dining room table at a yard sale in Austin several years ago. I should say a shed sale because this couple was emptying out their old shed. These chairs and the table were pretty beat up. They were a pickled oak with a cream colored nubby fabric that was covered in years of dirt and grime and CAT HAIR!!! But the whole set was $30 which fit into my budget at the time.

So Mike ripped off all the upholstery and I painted everything black. I debated going with white but our rental house at the time had white walls so I went with black. The fabric was from Hobby Lobby as was the foam for the new seat bottoms. In all it was somewhere around $100 for paint, fabric and foam. I have never been crazy about the style of the chairs. I think they look pretty outdated, but hey for $30 who is going to complain? But over the years the upholstery has gotten spilled on and painted on and glued on, etc. Our dining room is much more of a crafting space then a simple eating space. At any rate, it was time for an update. I've been looking at new chairs for a few months and I almost went with brown leather ones to match our sofa and loveseat, but Mike didn't really want to spend that much (approx. $150-200 per chair). He figured if we were going to spend that much, just get a whole new set. Well, a whole new set isn't really in the budget and we are leary about buying new furniture for this house when we are not certain how much longer we will be here.

So I started thinking about recovering the chairs with a new fabric, something lighter in tone but durable. And then I saw a picture in a Pottery Barn catalog of some chairs with covers on them. Aha! I thought. That's the answer! I've made chair covers before for my last set of dining room chairs (rescued from the dumpster at our apartment in Lynnwood) so I knew it was a possibility. But I didn't know how it would look since the back of this chair isn't upholstered. It's kind of bumpy. So I ended up buying more foam! There is now a piece of foam cushioning the back and the chair cover goes over it.

Looks pretty good, huh? Kenzie helped me pick out the fabric. The cream goes with our wall color, the pale blue coordinates with the curtains in the living room curtains on the other side of the room. The mini stripes in red, mustard and sage coordinate with the accessories in the dining room and living room. Plus the cover can be stripped off and thrown in the wash!

I will have to admit this redo is much more expensive than the last one. The foam cost about $40 and the fabric was about $200. It was on sale and I probably bought too much, but I didn't want to risk running out. So far I have one finished and another one almost done. I am hoping to finish two today and get the other three done by the end of the week. Then I can post pictures of what it looks like altogether. But so far, I am pretty darn pleased!

Prayers Needed

2009-08-01T12:23:00.002-04:00

Well Mike is off to the airport today so that he can fly into Spokane. He got a call Friday telling him that his mom had had a seizure Thursday night and doctors had determined that it was caused by a tumor in her brain. Currently she is resting at Sacred Heart in Spokane awaiting surgery on Monday. The good news is that the tumor appears to be benign. The bad news? Yeah, I think you can figure that out for yourself.

Mike will be gone for a week, so there will be some serious girl time in the next week. The past week the house has been craft central! We spent a couple days making cards and I must admit there is still a folding table set up behind the couch holding a bunch of papercrafting supplies. The dining room table is sewing central because I am making new chair covers for the dining room (one down, five to go. . .) Pictures will be coming. Thursday we spent the afternoon at a ceramics studio where we all painted for a couple hours. Next week the pottery wheel will be here so we can start throwing our own pots. Ok, just kidding about that.

So while Mike is gone, my goal is to get the covers finished and clean up all the crafting stuff. I should catch up on some scrapbooking too, but I always manage to push that off. I need some crafty friends that can kick me in the butt. Oh, and my garden is coming along too. More on that in a different post I think. Plus I need to finish blogging our earlier trip. See? I won't miss him at all because I will be up to my eyeballs in projects!!

Please keep my dear mother-in-law in your prayers. Hmmm. . . that sounds funny. Dear. Like she's a doddering old lady. My MIL is strong, feisty, fiercely loving, funny, independent. . . and she raised the best man in the world. It's going to take a lot more that a tumor to bring her down. I love you Carol.

Catching Up

2009-07-26T10:34:00.002-04:00

Okay, so better late than never.
I will be trying to blog about our vacation over the next day or two. No promises, but I would like to get it done before I forget!

Then I can catch you up on what we have been doing since we got back! A whole lot of nothing, really, so you ain't missing much.

Vacation Day 10 July 4 Williamsburg

2009-07-26T10:22:00.004-04:00

We actually got out of bed today! The girls slept in until 10 or so. They weren't moving too fast. But we showered and left for Williamsburg around noon. We started at the Welcome Center and watched a little film and then took a shuttle bus to the historic district. We ended up seeing a lot, but it was very crowded and kind of warm. Plus the girls were still a bit tired. We saw the blacksmith, the dressmaker, the cabinet maker, the apothecary, the book binder, the brickmaker. . . There are so many things to see and do every day! There were a couple of special Independence Day activities too. Here are the girls posing outside the cabinetmaker's place.
We stayed at the blacksmith's for quite a while. They were demonstration how to make a hammer. Pretty cool.

The girls were happy to do their part to help mix up the clay! It was really stiff and I kept thinking one of them was going to fall over! But no. When they went to wash their feet McKenzie sat in a pile of clay, so for the rest of the day she had a dirty bum.

Trying on a bonnet. Looks kind of funny with the braces, huh?

Little Miss Riding Hood, aka Becca

She totally thinks I should make her a cape like this. And I keep wondering When the heck would she wear it in Florida????

We stayed until 6 and had planned on staying for the 4th of July festivities, but the girls were worn out and wanted to head back to the hotel. So we did. We ended up seeing the fireworks from the lawn in front of the hotel. Not exactly what I had planned, but hey whatcha gonna do?

Vacation Day 9 July 3 In bed!

2009-07-26T10:16:00.001-04:00

So we spent the entire morning in bed. No one wanted to get up. Becca was really not feeling well at all and Kenzie was STILL coughing!! So off to the urgent care. It took me forever to find one. I got directions from the desk clerk and never could find it. I called Mike to have him get directions off the internet; he was out on the Atlantic fishing. I called Claudia to get directions and she was at Walmart and not anywhere near her computer. So I finally headed back to my laptop at the hotel and looked up the directions. So we check in at 2 o'clock and we finally got in to see the doctor at 4. Ugh. Sitting in a waiting room for two hours with two sick children is bad enough at home, but even worse when you are supposed to be on VACATION!!!

She prescribed Nasonex for Kenzie and an antibiotic so we headed off to a pharmacy. While they filled the prescription we went to Outback for dinner because Becca really wanted their brown bread. Whatever you want, sweetie. Then we picked up the Rx, and did some grocery shopping and headed back to the hotel. Fun, huh. Worse day of vacation.

Vacation Day 8 July 2 Drive to Williamsburg VA

2009-07-26T10:11:00.002-04:00

Mostly an uneventful trip up Interstate 95 except for when we almost ran out of gas. But we didn't, so it is best forgotten!

We pulled into Williamsburg around 3? 3:30 maybe? and checked into our hotel The Best Western Historic Places. It was very close to Williamsburg, maybe a mile and centrally located. On the internet I had purchased Bounce Passes for us all that allowed us to visit Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, WaterCountry USA, Jamestown and Yorktown for seven days. Can you say busy???

So after we unpacked we headed to Busch Gardens. We figured we would ride a few rides, have dinner and stay for the fireworks that evening. Well, we did go on a couple rides, but then realized that Becca was freezing because she was running a temperature. She didn't want to leave though so we stayed and had dinner. By then it was 7 or so and her eyes were just not looking right. So we decided to head back to the hotel. When we got there Becca's fever was 102. Ugh. So we crawled into bed and watched TV for the night!

Vacation Day 7 July 1 Drive to Cameron, NC

2009-07-26T09:59:00.003-04:00

On Day 7 we got up early and packed up and headed out. End of the Smoky Mt. portion of our trip! Claudia headed back to Florida and the girls and I headed east, to Cameron, NC to see my high school friend, Lori, whom I hadn't seen since, well, high school!

Lori's hubby is in the military and stationed in Iraq (Bless you Matt!) and Lori and the four kids just moved into a very nice new place! It's a lovely house, four bedrooms, with a fabulous kitchen. I think Lori is feeling very blessed. I can't imagine tackling an undertaking like that on my own. But one thing I remember about Lori after sharing early morning drill team practices for three years, that girls has oodles of energy!! She is one of the cheeriest people I have ever met, always smiling and she is still the same!! Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of Miss Lori, but she looks just the same!

This is what Lori's children look like. Yes, really! They are just like her with boundless energy!!
Ben: Cute but definitely in the Terrorizing Three stage

Becca: I would take this girl home with me in a second. 100% Sweet with the most adorable voice on the planet.

Sam: All boy, not sure what to make of my older girls at first. But then jumped right in. My girls thought he was loads of fun to play with.

After a lovely homemade dinner, Lori graciously put us up for the night. Kenzie was still coughing (in fact, Ben called her "the one that coughs!") and so another rough night of sleep for Becca and I. I hope Lori and her kids did not get Kenzie's cold!! Lori made up delicious French toast for breakfast (Thank you!!!) and then off we went, down the road again. . .

Vacation Day 6 June 30 Horseback Riding

2009-07-26T09:46:00.003-04:00

My other vacation posts were written when I was on vacation and saved on my laptop. Inexplicably, I only journalled the first five days. All I can plead is exhaustion! We were very busy and McKenzie's coughing was keeping me up at night so I wasn't getting nearly enough sleep. I will try to piece together the rest of the trip using photos. Let's see what I will be able to remember!!

Day 6 of our trip found us at this beautiful farm in the hills outside of Wayne where Claudia took the girls horseback riding. Because of allergies, I took pictures and then left them to it! I found a little farm store where I found plum butter and pumpkin butter! They had dozens of varieties of homemade jams. They also had fresh local produce so I bought a pint of strawberries and then headed into town. I found a darling little bookstore with internet access and caught up on my email, etc. That is also where I posted my first couple of posts about the trip.

Beautiful North Carolina Hills
Becca, Kace, Carlie, Claudia, and McKenzie riding past the cows. Those cows were very vocal and LOUD!!! I think they wanted some attention.
Here is McKenzie with her horse. She's a natural.
Rebecca takes her horseback riding very seriously! She was so excited to go horseback riding! I heard that her horse was not so excited and would have rather stayed in the pasture.
This little fella took a shine to Becca. He was lovin the attention. He even followed her horse on the trail!

Vacation Day 5 June 29 Biltmore

2009-07-26T09:36:00.003-04:00

[Note: Because there are no pictures allowed inside the Biltmore, I didn't take any! We took lots of photos of the gardens and a few at the farm!]

This morning we got up and headed into town to Walmart to grab a couple items before heading to Asheville. While in the parking lot I got a call from Ms. Frederick. There’s nothing I can share at this point, but at least I have a better idea of what to expect when I get back to work in August. Claudia left her cell at the cabin so we headed back there and then back to Walmart to get ???. I can’t even remember. The trips to Walmart are really starting to blur together!!! Claudia gassed up the car and off we headed down the road!

We got to the Biltmore estate around 11 o’clock. What a gorgeous day! Sunny and warm and perfect for exploring. We parked and caught the shuttle up to the house and gardens. We headed for the gardens first, hoping to see them before it got too hot. After an hour the girls were pretty parched and gardened out so we headed back to the house to find some lunch. There’s a little courtyard area next to the original stables and you can go to a sitdown restaurant, a bakery or a little pizza place. We chose the bakery which was a wonderful choice. Their sandwiches were fabulous (I had a sundried tomato and chicken salad sandwich on croissant). Plus we had a strawberry parfait thing that was amazing, McKenzie had an apple streusel coffeecake that was divine, and Rebecca got a peanut butter cookie. After lunch we headed into the main house.

The main house is enormous and doesn’t feel like a “house” at all. It feels like a very decadent resort. It’s something like 180,000 square feet, four stories tall with a basement. We toured through most of the ground floor and select rooms on the other floors. The views from every room are amazing!!! The Asheville area is incredibly pretty, tree-covered hills with mountains beyond. Every room has a story and was decorated by George Vanderbilt himself. Cameras are not allowed inside, so no pictures to share. I guess y’all will have to go visit for yourself! We took a self-guided tour with accompanying audio CD that took about two-and-a-half hours. Around every corner is a new sight to marvel at. Definitely worth the money ($40/adults, kids were free, audio tour $8 per person).

After looking at the house, we headed out for some ice cream and then had to wait a bit for the shuttle to take us back to the car. We finally got back to the car around 5 o’clock. We dropped Claudia off at the Biltmore winery so she could do a little tasting and the girls and I went off to the Farm. We only had enough time to visit the petting zoo and not a lot else unfortunately. Most of the exhibits and demonstrations were over by the time we got there. Great excuse for us to come back another time! I took a few pics of the girls in a wagon and we headed back to pick up Claudia and head back to the cabin.

On the way home we stopped at Walmart AGAIN! My prescription was finally ready to be picked up and we needed some TP. For dinner we made spaghetti and garlic knots. A very yummy dinner. I missed the first 45 minutes of The Bachelorette, but caught the last part. Can’t believe she is holding on to Wes.

Kenzie still has a bad cough and it kept me up until nearly 3 o’clock. Ugh.

Vacation Day 4 June 28 Whitewater Rafting

2009-07-26T09:25:00.003-04:00

Another good night’s sleep! Woke up to birds chirping and the sun shining. What a beautiful day! Today we were off to Bryson, NC and the Nantahala River for a day of adventure! We left the cabin around 9:45 and drove along the Great Smoky Mountain Expressway to Bryson. We arrived around 10:45 to The Paddle Inn Rafting Co. parking lot. For $25 each we got ourselves an 8-mile trek down the river with an experienced guide named Dustin. Well, he had been there a week, so compared to us, he was experienced!! We were fitted with life jackets, handed a paddle and loaded onto a bus for a short trip down the road to the drop off location. Once there our boat (#703) was unloaded we took it down to the river’s edge. I can just imagine what our guide was thinking. . . “what did I do to deserve this?? Why do I get stuck with 6 girls???” He was a good sport though and we had a fabulous time!! The river was 55 degrees so it was pretty invigorating when we got splashed. The sun was out though and the temp was in the high 80s. Claudia and I sat in the front, Carlie and McKenzie in the back, with Kacey and Becca in the center. Our trip started out almost immediately with a class III rapid so I got soaked right off the bat! After that it was mostly class I rapids with a few rocks to paddle around and sometimes over! Kacey and Becca got out of the boat a couple times just for the fun of it. The second time Becca went in the guide left here out there for about 3-4 seconds instead of pulling her right in. Her face was classic!! Wish I had been able to bring the camera! Right at the end we ended up getting beached TWICE!! Each time was only for a minute or so but it was, shall I say, fun?? I thought the first time we might actually tip because we were all to one side and the guide was bouncing up and down on the other. I thought it was possible that when we finally unbeached we’d flip right on over, but we didn’t. For large stretches the river was only a foot or two deep although the parts where the girls went over the sides was deeper, maybe 5 or 6 feet. On a scale of one to ten the girls gave it an eleven! We bought some photos from the trip that I will add to the blog if I can.

For lunch we ate at a pizza joint right on the river where we watched dozens of rafts, kayaks and canoes go by while we watched from our picnic table. Amazing!

We took the long road back looking for a place called Soco Gap which I had heard had very nice views. The GPS lead us to somewhere close but not quite there. On the way we stopped to explore Soco Falls and ended up taking the Blue Ridge Parkway back home. So amazingly pretty.

The girls played in the yard for a bit while Claudia made us dinner. Kenzie was tuckered out and stayed in to hang with me. Her fever is down pretty much but she has started to cough. Hopefully she will not keep us all up all night.

Vacation Day 3 June 27 Sliding Rock

2009-07-26T09:09:00.005-04:00

Apologies! I can't seem to move the photos around. So I guess the photos will just have to stay at the top and the commentary will be at the bottom!

I woke up early and decided to go back to sleep!! I had all the windows open (no a/c here) and the birds are rather boisterous in the morning, but I tuned them out! I woke up again around 9:00. Claudia was on her cell and the girls were all asleep. I took a shower and the girls started to move around. Kenzie still had a fever and was very stuffy and had a “weird” feeling in her throat. We ate leftover pizza for breakfast and the girls ran outside to enjoy the weather. At 11:30 we gathered the troops and headed to Walmart again. I checked on my prescription (they hadn’t heard back from Dr. Singer’s office) and we picked up Subway sandwiches and then headed down the road. We went through some very pretty area on Pigeon Road, orchards and pretty houses and little churches on all sides nestled into beautiful trees on steep hillsides. I can’t even imagine what this place looks like in the fall. We stopped to have a picnic at a little park along the road and then continued on to Sliding Rock.

Sliding Rock is a 60 foot long natural “waterslide” that ends in a seven feet deep pool of water. The water is around 50 degrees so it’s a refreshing break from the heat of summer. We weren’t the only ones who thought so!! The temps were in the high 80s so didn’t feel too bad to us Floridians! We arrived to long lines and no parking spaces! While Claudia found a parking spot I took the girls down the path so they could line up for their turn to slide. There were about 50 people in line in front of them so it took maybe 30 minutes for them to go. They came out cold and exhilarated and ready for another trip down! When they were on their third turn in line a big group of kids came in, maybe another 50 or so, making the wait closer to an hour, so we decided that was the end of the sliding. The girls played in the water of the creek for another 30 minutes or so and we headed back to the car. An hour later we arrived back to the cabin and after starting some laundry we all headed out to explore the neighborhood. We headed further uphill than the girls had gone previously and found a paved road and some very nice homes. These homes had big lawns with fewer trees, and nice views of the surround tree-covered hillsides. The roads were also very steep in some places requiring us to use long-dormant muscles! The road made a nice loop and we headed back to our side of the mountain, the one with the dirt roads! After another dinner of leftover pizza we settled in for a quiet evening of watching TV. Kenzie still had a fever and needed some cuddle time. After showers for all, it was time for bed!!

Vacation Day 2 June 26

2009-06-30T13:21:00.003-04:00

I woke up pretty early and got McKenzie and Carlie up, too. We had decided the night before that we wanted to get up early and take a walk around the neighborhood. Sitting in a car for 15 hours can make you want to run a marathon. There are maybe 4 or 5 houses on the dirt road between here and the main, paved road. They look like they were all built in the 60s or 70s maybe. Next door there are two enormous Great Danes and they are behind a wooden rail fence that is perhaps four or five feet high with only one rail in the middle to keep them in. Ummm. . . do they know that they could easily jump that fence?? They don’t much like having us for neighbors. There are trees everywhere, couldn’t tell you what kind, just that they aren’t pine trees, and a little creek that runs through the neighborhood. It only took us about 10 minutes to walk down to the main road and then walk back. Boy, my body isn’t used to walking on hills! I haven’t seen a hill in a year since we were in the Olympics!!

Everyone else was up by 8 and we got cleaned up and dressed and headed into town to visit the Walmart. We needed groceries for the week and I of course had to replace all of my toiletries. The Walmart that we found is only an exit away, so maybe four miles. It is very new and has the nicest produce dept that I have ever seen at a walmart. I stopped by the Pharmacy and they said they would call Dr. Singer to rewrite my Rx so I should be able to get it by next Tuesday (in time to take my next pill). So $190 later ($95 groceries, $95 in toiletries) we headed back to the cabin.

Claudia bought a new vacuum for the cabin while we were out and we spent two hours cleaning every bit of carpet that we could find. We also dusted and cobwebbed every inch of the cabin. There isn’t a regular cleaning service so things like that tend to get put off. Claudia emptied the dust hopper on the vacuum at least six times. Under one particular table that hasn’t been moved since 1995 (I’m just guessing since that is when the “new” carpet was put in) there were enough dust bunnies to fill the entire hopper. It was really gross but we were really glad we did it, because we just feel better having a cleaner cabin.

While we cleaned the girls explored the neighborhood further, found some trails to wander on and played on the tire swing in the back yard. All in all they did what kids should be doing in the summer. We headed into Waynesville about 1:00 to see the town and grab some lunch. Waynesville is very picturesque being set in the valley of the Smoky Mountains. The stores on Main street were built in the 1880s to 1910s, mostly brick. There are lots of flowers planted and even some artwork, some of which I got pictures of. I neglected to shoot any photos of the buildings. Oops. We ate at a place called Ceviches where I had a strawberry and goat cheese salad with the most amazing balsamic glaze. It was fabulous. Really.

After that we headed back to the cabin. The girls played some more. Claudia watched TV and I took a long nap. I woke up around 7, Claudia warmed up some take-and-bake pizzas from Walmart, and we all watched the movie “Bride Wars.” Pretty cute. Kenzie was feeling a little off and it turned out that she was running a fever. 100.4 which went up to 101.4 until coming back down to 100 again. We didn’t head for bed until midnight or so and the girls were whispering on and off until nearly one.

Vacation Day 1 June 25

2009-06-30T13:06:00.003-04:00

I wish I could say that our drive from Florida to North Carolina was uneventful, but it was filled with delays and more drama than anyone could wish for. We started off about 7:30 a.m. from Port St. Lucie and things went pretty well for awhile. We were making good time through central Florida until we got slowed up by a sheriff’s deputy in Brevard County. He was going about 69 m.p.h. and everyone was loathe to pass him, so there was quite a bottleneck. Claudia and I inched past him going 70 m.p.h. So imagine my surprise when he pulled in behind me and flipped his lights on!!! I wasn’t speeding I swear! And I was following Claudia fairly closely, but I wasn’t tailgating. Well, guess what? My tabs had expired. Ugh. Seriously?? A phone call to Mike confirmed that he had not renewed the registration. Plus I couldn’t find an up-to-date insurance card and the registration in the glove box was the old one from the Dodge Caravan (yes, the one we got rid of in 2006!!) Shit, shit and double shit. Needless to say I got a ticket and we decided I’d better renew my tabs before heading out of state. Thank goodness there was an office about 20 miles down I-95 not too far off the road. Mike owes me $80.10. Yeah, it all comes out of the same pot, but it’s the principal of the matter! While in Daytona we stopped at Subway and filled up with gas at Sam’s Club ($2.54/gallon) and away we went!

Traffic was brisk but moving pretty steady as we headed north into Georgia until a few miles south of Brunswick where we got stopped, literally stopped because of road work. Ugh. It took about 40 minutes to drive a mile and a half. And we were off again. This was where Claudia noticed that I had a headlight out. Oh crap. Just what I needed, another reason to get stopped by a cop!! We took a potty break and headed into South Carolina. The roads weren’t as bad as I remember and we moved along pretty well except for a few miles of crawling along by a minor accident. Central SC was really pretty and started to get hilly just before Columbia. We used Claudia’s GPS to find an auto parts store in Spartaburg so that I could buy a headlight and get it replaced before it got dark. Thanks to Romey at AutoZone for helping me out! The manager there said that they couldn’t do it for me if it required dismantling anything, but I really appreciate the fact that this guy went above and beyond to help this worn out smelly woman 600 miles from home. While stopped I reached into the back to get my anti-perspirant and guess what? Yep. Left my bag at home. So no anti-perspirant, no shampoo, no make-up, no tampons, no Rxs!!!! Oh my God. I’m cursed. We ate at a Taco Bell and then headed into the mountains and North Carolina.

I can’t begin to tell you how long the trip was. My back was absolutely killing me from about Vero Beach on. It was impossible to get comfy. But at least the discomfort kept me from getting sleepy! We pulled into Asheville, NC around 9:30 and headed toward Waynesville. More traffic tie-ups. More road construction. But now it was dark and the road was hilly and windy. Not fun. The cabin is actually in Balsam and we got there just after 10.

The cabin was kind of cute in a unique way. It’s been shut up for a few weeks so the air was rather stale and musty, to be expected. What I didn’t expect was the unique décor. You know all those bowls of potpourri and the wall art made from dried flowers and all the country cutie crap from the early 80s? Sometimes you see it at goodwill now and then but overall you don’t see it in people’s homes anymore. Well, now I know where it all went to die. A little cabin in Balsam, NC! There is not a square inch in this place that isn’t covered with a doily, wicker basket or dried flower. It’s a sneezefest!!!

Well, I’m off to what will hopefully be a comfy bed. Claudia and I took the bedrooms; Kacey and Becca are sharing a sofabed and McKenzie and Carlie are laid out on air mattresses in the dining room. I’m looking forward to a good night’s rest and a brisk walk in the woods in the morning.

Anniversary/Father's Day

2009-06-24T11:37:00.004-04:00

Last Thursday Mike and I celebrated our fourteenth anniversary. Yeah for us!! The girls were farmed out to a friend's house and Mike and I spent a nice evening together, with no kids! We went to a restaurant called "The Ashley" in Stuart. We've been for lunch with the kids before and the food was wonderful. This time Mike and I shared a salad (green apples, pecans, bleu cheese, honey-apple cider vinaigrette). He ordered the herbed pork tenderloin and I had a filet mignon with a cheese and crab sauce that was divine. YUM!

For Father's Day we drove down south to Hollywood (dropping Sophie off for a play date in Jupiter Farms). I had found a good deal on a room near the beach so we thought we would go down for a weekend of sun and sand. Unfortunately it was a little too sunny! Imagine that. . . in south Florida. . . in the summer? It was in the high 90s, way too hot to sit on the beach without shade. Probably too hot to sit on the beach WITH shade! We walked on the beach for approximately 10 minutes. The water was super warm and the sand was burning hot. so back to the hotel for us! Thankfully the hotel had a very very nice pool, so we spent the evening in the pool and well as Sunday morning.

Sunday afternoon we drove up to Sawgrass Mills, the most enormous mall I have ever been to. It's crazy big and truly overwhelming. There are over 400 stores. But more than that there were thousands of people there, hoping to escape the heat I guess. The majority were from other countries with dozens of different languages being spoken. That part was really cool. The walk from the car into the mall was about all the sun I could take and yes, even that much left me pink on my chest and shoulders!

From the mall, we picked up Sophie and headed home.

The last three days the girls and I have been busy getting ready for our big summer road trip. Most of the plans have been firmed up, reservations made, emails sent.

We are starting out in the Great Smoky Mts. staying in a cabin in Balsam, North Carolina with some friends whose family owns the cabin. Next week we will be heading to Williamburg VA where the girls and I will stay for a week seeing the sights! Then on the DC for a few days, over to Maryland to see Grandma Jo and then home again, home again, jiggety jig. Whew. It's quite a trip and has been a lot of work to plan, but we are so excited to get to see new parts of our wonderful country!

I may or may not have internet access over the next three weeks, but I will have my laptop, so I will try to update the blog if possible.

Last Day of School!!!!

2009-06-10T20:22:00.002-04:00

Our much-awaited summer has finally begun! Well, kind of. I have two more teacher work days, but the kids are done for the year. On to sixth and fourth grade. Oh my!

Both girls came home with straight As again. Mike and I are so proud of how hard they both have worked and how much they have accomplished this year. They both have done an amazing job and came home with some impressive test scores. We couldn't be more proud!

We should be sticking around PSL for a couple weeks, catching up on chores and errands and playing with all of our friends. Then we are off to North Carolina to spend a week in the woods and then on to DC to see the sights. Mike will be joining us in DC after a conference in New Hampshire.

But for now, we are happy to put our feet up and relax for a bit!

Growth spurt

2009-06-06T11:52:00.002-04:00

So for the five people out there who are reading my blog . . . thanks!!

McKenzie's pants have been fitting a bit snug, so I had her try on all her bottoms this morning. She now has two pairs of jeans and two pairs of shorts. That's it! In the past, the issue has always been that her jeans get too short before they get too tight; now the length is still fine, but she can barely zip them up!

At spring break she had outgrown all of her clothes so we had to go from size 0s and 14 slims to size 1s and now, in less than six weeks, she has outgrown almost all of those new clothes! Thank goodness there is only three days of school left. I should be able to get away with just buying her shorts and capris and not worry about jeans until she goes back to school in the fall. My little girl is not so little anymore. . .

Is Anybody Out There?

2009-06-01T18:06:00.002-04:00

Is anybody still reading my blog?

When I started this I thought it would be a nice way to keep people near and far abreast of what is going on in our lives. However, the lack of feedback leaves me wondering if anybody ever reads this! Maybe you folks are just shy and don't like to leave comments?

I think it hurt my feelings a little bit to post Rebecca's wonderful Young Author's project and not have a single person respond.

So here's the challenge. . . if you are reading this, leave a comment and let me know what your plans are for the summer. What are you most looking forward to? That way, I'll get some idea about whether to take the time to continue blogging and I'll know what everybody is up to this summer!

Update Great News!!

2009-05-28T20:42:00.002-04:00

Good news to share!
First, I was reappointed and given a professional services contract (kind of like tenure) and I will have a job next year. I don't know what grade I will teach but I will be teaching Reading at St Lucie West K-8.

Secondly Becca and McKenzie rocked their FCATs!! Becca got perfect scores on her Math and Reading tests. As far as I know, she is the first kid in the history of our school to do that!! McKenzie got Level 5s in Reading, Math AND Science!!! Great job girls! We are so proud of you!

At their award ceremonies yesterday, Becca had the "highest GPA" for her class and Kenzie was named "Best Artist" by her classmates. Will post pictures when I get time!

Happy Mother's Day!!

2009-05-10T22:01:00.002-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful mother!

I got breakfast in bed this morning and then stayed there most of the day sleeping. I was definitely not feeling well. The kids and Mike took over laundry duty, etc. so I could rest. I am a lucky mom.

Back to the grindstone

2009-04-20T20:18:00.003-04:00

Well, I went back to work today after 10 glorious days of spring vacation. I will try to post a few pics of our trip to Daytona when I get a chance. . . it may be a while. Things are already crazy around here!

Young Authors (Rebecca)

2009-04-09T06:38:00.008-04:00

Great news! The young author's book that Rebecca has been diligently working on for the past three weeks was chosen as a Finalist at her school! Her story won for 3-5th grade! We are immensely proud of her for her hard work and for her creativity. She spent many many hours outlining her story and then writing and revising. She spent many more hours on all of her drawings. Here it is!

Looking Up!

2009-04-06T20:03:00.003-04:00

After a very trying week at school, it was nice to enjoy the weekend!

On Friday I took 5 girls home with me. Well we didn't go home, we headed off to McKenzie's art lesson. So I dropped Kenzie off at her class at the community center and the four girls and I went to the grocery store to get stuff for a picnic!! Then we went back and got Kenzie and headed to Claudia's house. The girls ate and played on the trampoline and swam and had a grand old time! The adults? We watched a movie, Burn After Reading. Different, but pretty funny. I took Becca, Kacey and Rachel home with me and left Carlie and Kenzie with Claudia. Mike and I went to bed around 11:30 and apparently the girls didn't go to sleep until 3! Ugh.

I got Rachel up early because she had a Girl Scout thing to go to. She came back around 11 and the girls, plus the neighbor girl Kiera played all afternoon. McKenzie came home around 3 and Kiera and Kacey went home. Then Michelle came to get Rachel, Rebecca and Kenzie and took them to her house! Yes, it was a crazy day with lots of little girls running everywhere.

At 5 Mike and I went to the Martin-Vegues and we all headed down south to Marissa's wedding. It was a beautiful semi-Jewish wedding and we had a wonderful time. Good food, lovely people and dancing. Plus open bar. ;) We didn't get home until after one, so we slept in. I woke up dehydrated and with a major headache and I DIDN'T DRINK ANYTHING!! I even took a nap. Outside of a load of laundry and some dishes, I didn't get much accomplished. I went and got the girls around 4 and helped Mike pour some concrete. He built a little concrete pad on the side of the houses to keep the garbage cans on. We got ticketed for a code violation from the city a few days ago because our garbafe cans are visible from the street. Oh Puleeze! There are at least 4 or 5 abandoned houses on our street that haven't been mowed since Christmas and we get the citation? We have one of the best looking yards on our entire street. Ugh. Anyway, we still need to put up a screen or plant a bush or something, but the hard part is over.

Tonight Mike and I took the kids out to dinner. Nice to just relax. But now I have a stack of papers to grade before the big game starts. Later!!

The end of March, finally

2009-03-30T17:51:00.003-04:00

Well, I've almost made it through March. It's been a rough month. We started with McKenzie getting sick, moved through to FCATs (also known as Hell Week) and since then have been dealing with major budget cuts and union business. I'm so ready for Spring Break.

There has been lots of drama at work. The district has decided that they want all teachers to have their ESOL certification, pronto! Like yesterday! Nevermind that they state Department of Education gives you six years from your hire date to get all of your classes done. Our district says four years, or else! Only they didn't tell any of the teachers. Oops. Major headache.

So I've been scrambling to get all my ducks in a row. Because I'm in my fourth year of teaching. Yeah, major panic. In the end, I think I'm okay and have everything done that I am supposed to have done. It gets so confusing because everyone you talk to says something different. There are five classes to take for some teachers, others need one or two. As a reading teacher I have to take five. I have taken two but then some of my reading classes count toward this requirement. How many and which ones vary depending on who you talk to and when and which orbit the moon is in. Crazy. Or you can take the ESOL test and only take two of the classes. Some websites say two specific classes, some say any two classes. Ugh.

So on Friday morning it really looked like my job would be in jeopardy. But then someone from the state apparently said that if you pass the ESOL exam and you have a reading endorsement, you're good. And this morning I got an email that said my paperwork was on it's way to the state and should be approved by the end of next week. I'll believe it when I see it.

Thursday night the girls and I went grocery shopping for the first time in weeks and filled up two grocery carts and spent $400. Whoa. Had a quiet weekend. Laundry. Cleaning. Shopping. Friday I went out to dinner with Michelle for some much needed girl talk and venting (about school stuff) time. Later that night Gonzaga lost to a very good UNC team. Saturday Becca went to a spring training game with a friend down in Jupiter. In the evening the girls and I went shopping for a dress for me to wear to a wedding next weekend. I found two and I couldn't decide so i got both. I think I have decided to wear one of them to the eighth grade dance in May and one of them to Marissa's wedding. I got a new haircut and highlights on Sunday afternoon and had many compliments today. I guess I look good as a blonde. Also on Sunday I made two dozen cupcakes for Marissa's surprise bridal shower at lunch today. I used marshmallows to make flowers for the tops. Very cute. And of course I didn't even take any pictures!! I've been bad about that lately.

So there you have it. Tons of stress at work as the budget nightmare goes on. And lots of chores at home. Fun. Fun. Fun.

Bad News All Around

2009-03-24T21:14:00.002-04:00

I have spent the past couple of weeks up to my elbows in union issues. For those of you that don't know, I am a union rep at my school site. It's my first year, so I'm learning as I go. Because of the fiscal disaster, otherwise known as Florida, our district is looking at needing to cut at least $30 million out of a $238 million budget (this is on top of the $23 million cut last year). It's not pretty. We are a district of declining enrollment in a county where home prices have fallen 40% in the past year. Unemployment is over 10%. It's ugly anyway you look at it. And some very unpleasant decisions have to be made. Three hundred jobs are on the chopping block already.

As it stands, the budget committee and superintendant have made recommendations which the School Board will review. The final decisions will be made April 7 although things will need to be tweaked depending on whether the FL legislature can cough up some more money or decides to make even deeper cuts. Whatever happened to the FL constitution that says the "Paramount responsibility" on the state is to educate it's young people?

I am still on annual contract, so my job is by no means safe. Principals will not know how many positions that have until mid-May and I may not know until the end of May if I have position or not. If I have a position I have no guarantee as to grade or subject area. Needless to say I have had a lot on my mind lately.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T17:34:00.002-04:00

This post isn't really going to be about St. Patrick's Day, just an update on what we have been up to. The girls and I just got back from a quick trip to Sam's Club where we had dinner and stocked up on groceries and books (there aren't any bookstores within 20 miles of our house, so we make due).

FCATS are over. McKenzie took her last session today. It was over for me yesterday. Becca only had two tests so she was done last Thursday. Now the trick is to keep my students motivated to learn through the end of school! It's so hard when the students have already taken their end-of-year assessments. Spring fever has already hit hard, too, with scuffles, skirmishes and fights erupting everyday. I almost had a fight in my room today during sixth period. Two girls came in yelling at eachother and it just kept getting louder and louder and I had to step in between them. I think if one of them started swinging though I would have stepped out of the way!

The weather has been really fabulous here, warm and dry, but now we are dealing with a long-term drought. Our grass is just about dead. Mike and I are having a hard time deciding how much money to put into our yard when the value is going down, down, down. We have been talking about replacing the grass, putting in a sprinkler system, screening in the porch, landscaping the back, etc. but then it seems foolish to put more $ into our house. So we talk, and talk some more, but keep putting off making any decisions.

That's about all for now. We are just busy with school, work and housework, that kind of stuff. Wish there was something exciting to share, but I can't really think of anything!

I passed!!

2009-03-07T12:45:00.003-05:00

This morning I drove up to Melbourne (about 85 miles) and took my ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) certification test. Not having my ESOL coursework done was apparently the reason I wasn't granted tenure last year. I have three courses done and three to go, but found out that in the state of Florida you can also certify by taking two courses and passing the ESOL K-12 exam. So guess what? I took the test! I don't mind taking classes; I love learning. But the ESOL classes I took online two years ago were very time consuming and took up a full month of my summer break. I can't even fathom taking the courses during the school year. It would either take up all my free time in the evenings or all of my Saturdays for two months. And I definitely need my down time. The good news is I passed! Thank God. Now hopefully I can go on continuing contract (instead of annual) and have a bit more job security.

McKenzie, unfortunately, is still not feeling well. It started last Sunday with lethargy and some cold symptoms and has continued all week long. she has had fevers up to 102.5 but they con be controlled with Tylenol. She has had a stuffed up nose, cough, sore throat. I stayed home from work with her on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Mike stayed home Tuesday and took McKenzie with him to work on Thursday. I checked on her this morning before I left for Melbourne and her temp was 101.7. When will this crap go away?

Catching Up!

2009-03-02T17:45:00.007-05:00

Things have been crazy at school! That's my excuse anyway! I stayed home with Kenzie today (she just has a cold with a low fever) and I finally downloaded some photos and figured I'd better post!

Valentine's Day!

We didn't do anything special really. We went to Sam's Club and picked up some steaks and I made the family a nice dinner. We also shot some cute family photos:

Honor Roll!

Both girls got perfect A's second quarter and made the Principal's Honor Roll. I didn't get any good shots of them accepting their awards from the principal (my camera does not do well taking indoor shots from far away. Does anyone know what to do about that?) but I did get some shots of McKenzie and her silly classmates! And yes, McKenzie is getting VERY tall!

Student of the MONTH!!

Rebecca was chosen as Student of the Month again, this time for the trait of FAIRNESS. She was previously chosen for Initiative by her teacher Mrs. Zimmerman. This time she was chosen by her Music teacher. We are extremely proud of her! Coincidentally our friend, Rachel, was also chosen for her second time this month. Such great girls!

Science Day!

Scripps, where Mike works, just dedicated their new permanent buildings and to celebrate they invited a bunch of Nobel Laureates to give speeches, etc. On Saturday Sir Harold Kroto gave a short, one-hour, class to a group of Palm Beach County 5th and 6th graders. McKenzie was invited to participate and Rebecca and our friend Rachel joined in too. The more the merrier! Dr. Kroto was pretty funny and the girls had a good time. They might even have learned something! The girl's favorite part was creating Buckyballs (the shape of a soccer ball) out of plastic rods. After the class Scripps hosted a Family Science Day from 10-3pm. When it was all over they estimated that 6,000 to 8,000 people came! We also hit the Palm Beach Gardens mall for lunch and Costco before heading home.

The Name Game

2009-02-15T08:57:00.002-05:00

This one is just for fun. . . play along if you want!

1.YOUR REAL NAME:
Kendra Lynn (Mayo) Cameron

2.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:(mother and fathers middle name)
Ellen Arthur

3.NASCAR NAME:(first name of your mother's dad, father's dad)
Lee Raymond

4.STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)Camke

5.DETECTIVE NAME:(favorite color, favorite animal)
Red Kitten

6.SOAP OPERA NAME:(middle name, town where you were born)
Lynn Vancouver

7.SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning)
The Blue Pepsi

8.FLY NAME:(first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)
Keon

9.STREET NAME:(fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie)
Vanilla Peanut Butter

10.ROCK STAR NAME:(current pets name, current street name)
Sophie Kappa

11.YOUR GANGSTA NAME:(first 3 letters of real name plus izzle)
Kenizzle

12.YOUR IRAQI.. NAME:(2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, first two letters of your middle name, last two letters of your first name then last three letters of your last name)
Emlyraron

13.YOUR GOTH NAME:(black, and the name of one of your pets)
Black Sophie

Sophie

2009-02-06T09:20:00.004-05:00

On Wednesday night Mike took Sophie out for her nightly walk. I wimped out because it was so cold. We've had record breaking cold temps here and I was snuggled up on the couch with a blanket and had no desire to freeze my butt off taking Sophie for her walk. Just before they got back home, Sophie was running around in the field right by our house and somehow ran into a car. Mike had called for her but he thinks maybe she was chasing a rabbit or something because she ran the opposite direction and right into the side of a car. The driver stopped; she felt so bad, but it really wasn't her fault. At first Mike thought Sophie might be really hurt, but it turned out that she only got a few minor cuts and bruises and one serious wound on her front leg. Sophie is one lucky dog.

This all happened around 7:30 at night. I called Claudia and she immediately dropped everything and came to get the girls and kept them for the night (Thank you Saint Claudia!!!), while Mike and I took Sophie to the emergency vet center in Ft. Pierce (about 30 minutes away). We were there until nearly midnight. Sophie's injury was not life threatening so she kept getting pushed back as more serious cases came in. Understandable, but not fun. I read through 6 magazines, cover to cover. My allergies really started to kick in too. Two days later I am still dealing with an itchy eye!

Sophie is on the mend now. Mike stayed home with her yesterday and I am home with her today. She has to wear a collar so she can't pull out the staples that are holding her arm (technically her leg) wound together. We're still worried that she might use her back leg to scratch at the cut, so we are being pretty protective. She is not supposed to run or jump until the staples come out next week. That's going ot be the big challenge unless we keep her crated all week! She was so excited to see the girls when we all got home from school yesterday. She kept trying to lick us, but the collar prevents her from getting close enough! She was so frantic! Funny, in a sad kind of way.

This is a picture of Sophie this morning. She looks kind of sad here, but she was just napping. The front leg is actually her back leg. You can see where they shaved her leg to clean up her cuts. Closest to Sophie's body you can see the leg that got the staples. I pulled her big cone collar off so she could get some rest. The first thing she did when I pulled it off was lick me and then she went down the hall to Kenzie's room to sleep! So I will just have to check on her every few minutes. Still not sure what we will do on Monday. . .

He Loves Me

2009-02-03T21:05:00.004-05:00

Just a little story to illustrate that after almost 17 years, my husband still loves me.

We took Sophie for a walk tonight, a new nightly ritual, and it was fairly cold. I was wearing a fleece jacket, Mike a fleece-lined sweatshirt. As soon as we left, I knew I should have worn something warmer! Brrrrrr! Two blocks later I was starting to shiver. So Mike offers to switch with me. What?? You want to wear my fleece? Sure, he says. So we switch. I got the warm, cozy, oversize sweatshirt and Mike wore my fleece which just barely covered his elbows and maybe reached his belly button. If that's not love, I don't know what is. Romantic, he is not. But the boy still loves me.

25 Random Things About Me

2009-01-29T22:49:00.003-05:00

Let's see. . .

1. I really like angels. I'm not quite sure why. . . I'm not particularly religious but I really love angels and have collected them for years. I can fill a seven-foot tall Christmas tree with them! But I don't put an angel at the top of the tree - that might make the other angels jealous- we put a star on top of ours.

2. In fourth grade, I was one of the three French hens in the Christmas program at Lakeview Elementary and I was scared to death. I was not born to perform. It still makes me pretty nervous to present at faculty meetings and things like that.

3. In restaurants, I like to sit in booths with my family. It's cozier or something. And I hate sitting with my back to the restaurant, facing the wall. I just won't do it. I make my children sit there.

4. Sometimes as I walk up to my front door with my keys in my hand, I press the unluck button on my car key like I think it's going to magically open my front door.

5. I'd really really like to have more children even though I can think of a million reasons why I should stop at two.

6. My first date with my husband ended with a kiss in Riverfront Park in Spokane overlooking the falls on Friday the 13th. So now I consider Friday the 13th a lucky day. We even thought of getting married on a Friday the 13th but there wasn't one that worked for us.

7. I got married on a Sunday. I think that is very unusual. But it was great! It was easy to find a photographer, florist, even a minister for a June wedding on a Sunday (Saturday? fuggedaboutit!)

8. I have lived in four time zones. My oldest daughter had lived in four time zones before she entered 2nd grade, so I feel sympatico with military wives.

9. Men with British accents make me heart melt and my knees quiver. No idea why. . . Well, maybe because of Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice, but that's just a guess.

10. I really really don't like dogs. In fact I am allergic to them. But I have a dog. That's the true test of how much I really really love my husband.

11. I worry way too much about what other people think about me. I try not to care, but I do. I'm a pleaser at heart and I bend over backwards to keep everybody happy.

12. I really like to sing. And I really can't. But my husband really likes to hear me sing, because I only do it when I'm really happy.

13. I really use the word really too much. I've just realized that. I also say "All right, class" about a hundred times a day, but I like it better than "Attention." It just sounds friendlier.

14. I have had five miscarriages. Sad, huh? But it makes me feel truly blessed to have the two amazing children that God gifted to me.

15. I have felt a calling to motherhood from the time I was a very little girl. Before I got pregnant with Kenzie I felt her spirit trying to escape from me. So even though we weren't planning on having children so soon, we went for it. If you ever meet my oldest you will understand; she has a huge forceful spirit (in a good way!).

16. When I got pregnant with Becca, I really didn't want to be pregnant. I had just lost a baby at 14 weeks and was still grieving and wanted more time, but God must know best. Becca is the best thing that ever happened to me.

17. I could live on bread and butter and Pepsi with steak once a week. Making myself eat heathy food is a daily struggle.

18. I really want to live in the Northwest again. I miss my family and my friends. I still consider it home. I feel like I am on an extended break from my "real life" living here in Florida.

19. I really don't like snakes. I ended up in a Port-a-potty at a campground in Montana with a snake once and that was all she wrote, folks.

20. I wish I was taller.

21. I have perfect eyesight and do not need glasses. I see better than anyone in my family by far.

22. I am an amazing speller. And seeing spelling mistakes, especially from teachers or my administrators (!) drives me insane. When I was 8, I went up to the manager of Excel (Dale Lowry, I think) to tell him that the sign over the Pepsi was spelled wrong. So I don't think the spell check gene in me is going away anytime soon.

23. When I was five, I got caught shoplifting crayons from K-Mart by my mom. yeah. . . bad. . . spanking, grounding, you name it. And she made me take them back to the store and apologize to the manager! Thanks mom! That mortification was a lesson learned well.

24. I breastfed McKenzie for 15 months and I loved it. Becca for 8. I really don't understand why some people have such a thing against breastfeeding in public. Why the big deal? That's what they're there for, right?? But women who breastfeed past 2 or 3 kind of creep me out. I try not to judge, but I think it's a little weird to breastfeed your kindergartner.

25. I can't wear flip-flops. The whole thing between my toes thing just doesn't work for me.

Oxbow Eco-Center Hike

2009-01-25T07:49:00.007-05:00

So we were looking for a place to hike where we could take Sophie (because, really, who would want to take her for a walk after we just got back from a hike?) and we didn't want to go too far . . . so we ended up at the Oxbow Eco-Center, a place McKenzie has gone to on field trips. We checked online and they let you bring your dog and there were about 3 miles or so of groomed trails on the 224-acre preserve. Perfect!

So we started off, except Mike and I really didn't know how to get there. I had a vague idea and he had an even vaguer idea, so we doubled back to go print directions at home. While Mike was mapquesting, I looked for my sunglasses and realized that Mike had left our bag of water bottles on the kitchen floor. Oops. Can you tell we haven't done this whole hiking thing in a while?? No sunglasses, no directions, no WATER!!

We arrived at the Oxbow Center about 25 minutes later and I used their facilities before we started on our trek (that part I haven't forgotten. . . I'm just not a pee-in-the-woods kind of gal). We had a little trail map and decided to make a big loop, about 3 miles in all. The day wasn't hot and the terrain is flat (we have to drive 300 miles to find a hill. Seriously.) so we thought 3 miles would be just about right. Sophie was all set to go!! She was having a total smell-fest! We hadn't gone down the trail too far when we ran into Officer Byrnes, the School Resource Officer at SLWK8 and his wife, Lily! Small world! Our county has 300,000 people, and we were 20 miles from home, so it was kind of funny to run into someone from our school.

We continued on and heard something in the bushes. Hey it's an armadillo! In the wild. . . not dead, in the middle of the road. Cool!

Sophie was convinced that her job was to protect us from the evil armadillo, so she lunged at it but being Sophie, didn't bark, so I had time to take a picture before going on our way.

After a while we came to this bridge where we took I took a photo op. Hiking for me is really all about taking pictures, don't you know?

So this bridge was over a small trickle of a creek. I'm not trying to insult it. . . it's probably a big roaring creek during big rainstorms. . . but today it was just a little bitty creek. To the north (I'm just making that up, I have no idea if it was north or not, but let's just say north) it looked like this: clear, crystal water, green vines hanging down, and a sandy creek bottom. . .

And to the south (again, no idea, do you think I carry a compass around??) it looked like this: crystal clear water, but no green vines and no white sand in evidence at all. Hmmm. . . Kenzie and I thought it was odd. Well, it was Kenzie who pointed it out. I don't have time to ponder these kinds of things. I'm too busy taking pictures.

These spiky palm fronds (I'm sure Kenzie could tell you the name and the genus) lined the path. They make a cool sound when you brush past them. And they were spiky enough to keep Sophie (and Mike) on the trail.

Hey, take a look at this weird vegetation. . . it is weird, don't you think? Mike thinks I walk slow. Nope. Just lookin' at stuff, weird stuff like this.. After all, this is a nature hike, right?

See? Here's a tree attacking another tree, or hugging it I guess. Depends on your perspective and your state of mind. The things a tree will do to get more light and water. Really selfish if you think about it. Which I don't, usually.

Ah. . . The mighty North Fork of the St Lucie River. Rivers in Florida really don't look like rivers in the northwest. I can't imagine whitewater rafting down this. Kayaking maybe. . . the whole alligator thing though keeps my feet on dry land. We were, however, looking for manatee. We've never seen one in the wild but that doesn't keep us from looking.

Here's McKenzie pondering the great questions of life. Or thinking, Mom, when are you going to put the damn camera away and leave me alone? Nah. . . she's had a camera in her face since she was born. She's used to it. She's probably one of the more photographed kids ever. Cute, no? But I think her eyes are closed. Ugh.

So we continued around a bend in the river, also known as an Oxbow (I remember that from Oxbow Bend in the Grand Tetons and hence the name Oxbow Center), and the terrain was actually hilly. Not like, really hilly, but Florida hilly. So like 6-8 feet hills, but outside of the county garbage dump, that's as hilly as I've ever seen it around here.

The ubiquitous palm tree. I had to take this gratuitous shot. It is Florida, after all. I think it's a rule.

See the hill? I am at the top and Mike, Becca and Sophie, the super hunter, are at the bottom.

The trail turned away from the river at this point and we headed inland. Becca was holding Sophie on the leash through this part. Well, more accurately, Sophie was pulling Becca down the trail, but why get picky? Until Sophie got wind of another critter and then Becca was on the ground, but she didn't let go of the leash! I've got to give her credit for that. She has her wimpy moments (I'll get to that in a moment), but she can be tenacious when she chooses to be. It turned out that we had run across another armadillo. He's kind of cute, in a homely sort of way.

By this time we were about a half mile from trail's end and we were all thirsty because we had left the water bottles in the car (I know, we're rusty at this hiking thing), so we were moving along pretty quickly. Mike had been holding Sophie's leash since the whole armadillo incident, but figured Becca could hold it during the home stretch. So Mike calls up to Becca to call for Sophie and Becca wouldn't answer him. It turned out she had been crying the whole time! Not because she got hurt falling to her knees, but because Mike had laughed! Oh Becca, Becca, Becca. . . what are we going to do with you and your fragile little feelings? I explained that Daddy is a big stupid man and that the silent treatment never works, because he would never notice. Well, maybe by next Wednesday or Thursday he would figure it out, maybe. Maybe not. If she was mad, she needed to say she was mad and why. Sweetie, men are really very clueless. You have to just say it. So hopefully it is a lesson she takes to heart because it is one all women must learn eventually.

Think my dog had a good time? She had a continuous grin on her face the whole time, except when she put on her fierce "scare-the-armadillo-must-protect-family" look.

And here is one last shot of our beautiful, 72 degree weather in January, hike. (I just put that last part in so all my northwest friends would be jealous and come down and visit me).

Scattergories

2009-01-24T12:02:00.002-05:00

*Rules:
USE THE 1ST LETTER OF YOUR NAME TO ANSWER EACH OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

THEY HAVE TO BE REAL PLACES, NAMES, THINGS. NOTHING MADE-UP!

TRY TO USE DIFFERENT ANSWERS IF THE PERSON IN FRONT OF YOU HAD THE SAME 1ST INITIAL.

YOU CAN'T USE YOUR NAME FOR THE BOY/GIRL NAME QUESTION.

1. What is your name? Kendra

2. A 4 Letter Word : kiss

3. A Boys Name : Kevin

4. A Girls name : Krystal

5. An Occupation: Kindergarten teacher

6. A Color: Khaki

7. Something you wear: Keds

8 A Beverage : Kool-aid

9. A Food: Key Lime Pie

10. Something found in the bathroom : Kleenex

11. A place: Kansas City

12. A Reason for being late: Kids

13 . Something you shout! Kiss my ass!

If You Can't Change the Problem, Change Your Thinking

2009-01-22T17:04:00.002-05:00

Okay, well, I'm on a more even keel today. Had time to process a little bit and realize a few things. The things that were there, but not really making sense the other day. I still have "issues" to work through, but I don't feel quite so overwhelmed!

Two things have helped me and brought me some comfort. The first was the necessary step of counting my blessings, something I probably don't do often enough. I have a wonderful, supportive husband, two fabulous, bright, amazing children and everything else is gravy. It never hurts to take the time to look at everything in your life and remember the blessings. My life will never be perfect, but it's time I started to appreciate all that I have.

The second was the realization that no matter what everything will be okay. God hasn't steered me wrong yet and I'm obviously on the path that I am am for a reason, even if it's not apparent to me. An old friend helped me remember that our lives are most at peace when we accept the will of God. That's a hard lesson for me. . . but one that I am working on.

Is Discombobulated a Real Word?

2009-01-20T18:03:00.002-05:00

If it is. . . then that is how I feel. Just really mixed up in my head. I am a very level-headed practical person, usually, so this is quite a change for me. I've just been re-examining my life, as we are all wont to do at the beginning of a new year. And I'm not at all sure about where I am. I feel like I've been sleepwalking for months, even years, and now suddenly I am rethinking everything. Why now? Not quite sure. Its disconcerting to say the least.

When we moved to Florida and I went back to work I feel like I got on a treadmill that keeps picking up speed and I haven't been off of it since. No time to stop and analyze, just quick, get over each hurdle as it comes. And the strange thing is I don't want to think about it. I'm happier being ignorant. Ignorance is bliss right? I don't want to think about whether I love my job, or where I live or if I'm living a passionate life. Because what if I decide I don't or I'm not? That would mean some big decisions and upheaval and I'm not someone who is happy rocking the boat. So I am trying to hang on to the treadmill, at least for now.

Tour of Our House Part II

2009-01-17T20:07:00.005-05:00

Alright, continuing on the tour of our little house, well not so little, I guess. It's the biggest house I have ever lived in at 1860 square feet. It's just about the right size for us. If i could tweak it a little I would add a guest room with separate bath so maybe someone would come visit us! A studio to hold all of McKenzie and my craft stuff. And a walk-in pantry. And maybe a basement for storage (not gonna happen in Florida). Okay, so our house is too small for us, but it's ours and it will have to do for now!

Highlighted today will be the master bath, just off of the master bedroom. There is a door off the master bedroom that leads to a hallway. On each side of the short hallway (maybe 6 feet long) are two walk-in closets. That may be one of the reasons that we bought this house. A walk-in closet for each of us??? Unheard of. And very, very, very nice. It would be hard to go back to sharing a closet after this. On to the bathroom itself. . .

Going clockwise around the room we have a small linen closet, with no linens in it, just hair stuff, meds, girl stuff, TP, etc. That kind of stuff takes up a whole lot of room! Then there is the toilet. Mike kind of likes it when the commode has it's own separate space for privacy. I like that idea, too, but it's kind of nice not to be shut up in a little room to do your thing; that can be kind of claustrophobic if you're in there for any length of time, in my opinion. Total run-on sentence. Sorry. Next to the toilet in a large walk-in shower (Mike's favorite part of the house), then there is a large corner tub (girl's favorite part of house) and then on to double sinks. There's a window over the tub, bad for privacy, good for natural light. Two other pet peeves: No drawers in the bathroom and there is no light in the hallway. You have to walk all the way down the hallway to reach the bathroom light. You can stop and turn on the lights in the closets if you really need to see, but those doors are usually shut. So if I was going to build this house again I would add a lightswitch right inside the door.

We have made a few changes since we moved in: we painted it blue (I'm still not entirely sure it's the right shade of blue. . . I think I would like it to be a little lighter, grayer, and slightly greener); I replaced the light fixture over the sinks and the sink faucets; I added a cabinet over the toilet; I changed the towel bar and Toilet paper roll holder and changed the hardware on the cabinets. Small changes, but it feels a lot more spa-like now. You may, of course, have your own opinion!

Getting to Know You 2009

2009-01-16T19:27:00.004-05:00

1. What is your occupation right now ?
Teacher

2. What color are your socks right now?
I'm not wearing socks. I live in Florida. Who needs socks?

3. What are you listening to right now?
Kenzie is being obnoxiously loud while playing with the dog.

4.What was the last thing you ate?
Fuji Chicken Salad from Panera

5.Can you drive a stick shift?
Of course. My first car (Smurfmobile) was a stick shift.

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
Mike. He asked if he should pick up dinner on the way home, hence the Panera salad.

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Very much so.

8.How old are you today? 35

9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV?
College basketball, but I prefer to watch sports in person

10. What is your favorite drink?
Pepsi, on ice or fresh-squeezed lemonade

11. Have you ever dyed your hair
Noooooooo. Never (Okay. that's a lie)

12. Favorite food?
I don't have time to list all my favorites.

13. What is the last movie you watched?
Sex in the City, I think.

14. Favorite day of the year?
I have 52 (Saturday)

15. How do you vent anger?
I tend to lecture and when I'm really mad I clean.

16. What was your favorite toy as a child?
Baby Beans

17. What is your favorite season?
Fall, love crunching around in the fallen leaves

18. Cherries or Blueberries?
Cherries, no question.

19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back?
If they find the time, but it won't hurt my feelings if nobody responds.

20.Who is the most likely to respond?
Hmmm... Maybe Carolee?

21. Who is least likely to respond?
Anyone who doesn't waste as much time as I do online. : )

22. Living arrangements?
Three bedroom, two-bath, two car garage house with a fenced yard.

23. When was the last time you cried?
Last Wednesday (1/7) at the doctor's office. My neck was killing me and I was so frustrated that I had to wait so long.

24. What is on the floor of your closet?
On the left, drawers of craft supplies; at the back, extra pillows and blankets and my wedding dress (boxed up); to the right shoe cubbies.

25 . Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to?
N/A I 'm not sending this, so I'm not sure that applies to me.

26. What did you do last night ?
Took a nap after work, then meant to grade papers but ended up watching Grey's Anatomy instead.

27.What are you most afraid about?
I don't really worry about that kind of thing.

28. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers?
Cheese burgers -real cheese, not American- and Bacon, of course!

29. Favorite dog breed?
short-haired, goofy dogs, but I'm partial to black and white dogs

30. Favorite day of the week?
Saturday, I guess.

31. How many states have you lived in?
Four (Washington, Utah, then Washington, then Utah, then Washington, then Texas and now Florida)

32. Diamonds or pearls?
Why choose? Both.

33.Favorite flower?
If somebody gives me flowers I'm not gonna be picky about what type!
But I love the way Lilacs smell and I'm partial to lilies and wildflowers.

Trip to Epcot

2009-01-15T20:41:00.004-05:00

Well we are back from our mini-vacation from Orlando, safe and sound! The girls and I had a great time at Epcot and we had beautiful weather. Mike spent the day cooped up inside, reviewing science questions for the FCAT. Oh well . . . fitting punishment.

So we left for Orlando around 6:30 or so, stopped for dinner at Arby's on the way and hit the Turnpike. I promptly fell asleep. I've been on a lot of meds for my neck pain, so I was out like a light. Next thing I know, Mike wakes me up and asks, "So should I get off at Osceola?" and I reply, "Well that depends on where the hotel is." Orlando is a big and confusing place for us small town folks, so having directions is a must. There must be 50 different freeways and highways and they all have 5 different names. It's insane. So Mike says, "I think it's by the airport." What do you mean you THINK it's by the airport? "Well, it's at the same place it was last year." This is an annual thing for Mike and the girls and I went along (with my dad, too) last year. "Um. . . honey, it wasn't at the airport last year. We stayed at the Radisson right outside Universal. Remember?" No, apparently not. The gist of it was that Mike did not know where our hotel was. He wasn't even sure which hotel it was at. Great. It's 8:30 at night. We're all tired and we have no f***ing idea where we are staying that night. So we drove around for an hour, yes an hour, while Mike got us all kinds of lost, before he finally called a co-worker to look up the email that showed where the reservations were. Ugh. Not pleased. The girls and I were seriously grouchy. and cranky. and tired. and did I mention grouchy? The hotel room was nice with a sitting room and a separate bedroom, but there was only one bed, so the girls and I took the big comfy king bed and made Mike sleep on the couch. Did I mention that we were grouchy?

In the morning Mike went down to the conference room to do his thing and the girls and I drove off to Epcot, which is waaaaaay across town from the airport where we were staying. Long drive, but we didn't get lost. Because we knew where we were going. and we had a map. And we see well enough to read signs. All good things.

Epcot was great. The weather was around 70, with super sunny skies. The only line was for Soarin', everything else was under 5 minutes. We saw pretty much everything we wanted to see (except the fireworks... we didn't want to stay that late.) and went back to the hotel to pick up Mike around 7 o'clock and drove home. The end.

Long Week!

2009-01-09T19:48:00.004-05:00

The first week back after the holidays is always hard on us teachers. The kids don't want to come back to school any more than we do! It's tough getting back on schedule. No more sleeping in! This week seemed harder than ever!

One of the problems was that I have had a stick neck since New Year's Eve. I turned my head to cough and tweaked something in my neck. Yes, I had a coughing accident. Normally these types of things clear themselves up, but I'm still dealing with it 9 days later. At any rate, I have discovered that teaching when you can't turn your head is really hard! Plus it's painful. At home I can rest with my head on the back of the couch or lay down in bed, but at school? Yeah, I think the principal would not be too happy if she came in the find me with my head down on my desk.

I made it through Monday okay but I found out the assistant principal wanted a copy of my semester exam on her desk like yesterday. Only one problem. . . I hadn't written mine yet. Oops. The end of the semester isn't until Jan 22 and I had planned on doing it over the holidays, but it didn't happen. So I was up until 11:30 Monday night writing the final. fun. not.

Tuesday I would have loved to stay home but I was scheduled to go around the middle school reading classrooms with the principal, asst principal and the reading coach on a fidelity check. It's one of those little things I do as chair of Literacy council. I didn't want to bail out on the principal and I was really curious to see what everyone was doing in their classrooms, so I took a bunch of Advil and gritted my teeth and got through it. After school the girls went for a check-up at the doctor. We arrived at 3:40 for a 3:45 appointment. We waited until 5:10 to see the doctor. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! (me screaming) Part of it was they were busy, part was that our insurance changed Jan. 1. An hour and a half in a pediatrician's waiting room during flu season after a long day at work was the last thing I needed. My head and my neck and my shoulders and my back were killing me. The checkup itself was okay. Becca's ears, sinuses and chest sounded fine. She got the plantar's wart frozen off her toe and we found out that she is in the 90th percentile for height and the 75th for weight. (54 inches, 62 pounds). McKenzie is blind and needs to have her eyes checked and was seriously behind on shots. She got a Chicken Pox booster (Becca got out of that one since she had the Chicken Pox), hepatitis booster, tetanis, meningitis, and gardisil. Poor poor Kenzie, but I'd rather just get it all done and out of the way. we stopped at Wendy's for grub and ice cream for two very well behaved little girls. Except McKenzie is not so little anymore: 5'2" and 93 lbs. Yikes. That's the same size I was when I went to college. Double Yikes. She is in the 95th percentile for height and the 75th percentile for weight. I'm still a little stunned. I'm not ready for her to be all grown up. Soon I will have to look UP at her.

Wednesday morning I decided enough is enough. I need to go the doctor. so I drove into school, called for a sub, left lesson plans, came back home to get the girls, drove to Claudia's to get her girls and dropped everyone off at school at 8:30. Went home, ate breakfast and called my doctor. No appointments. WHHHHHAAT?? I took the day off. . . please?? Pretty please?? Okay. We'll squeeze you in at two (Sometimes it pays to whine!). I spent the day doing laundry and light cleaning and playing on Facebook. I got to the doctor who had no issues with the new insurance, thank God, and saw the doctor at 2:40. Ugh. I REALLY hate waiting around doctor's offices. Like so much that I wanted to cry. Seriously, there were tears in my eyes. I should have brought a book. So Dr Hunter tells me that I will need pain pills and an anti-inflammatory. At this point she hadn't done a physical exam. Um. . . couldn't she have just prescribed that over the phone? She did feel around a little after that and said that it might help to see a chiropractor if the meds didn't help. Couldn't she have just told me that on the phone?? She then gave me a shot in the butt of an anti-inflammatory (that wouldn't have worked on the phone) and sent me home. Sorry no photos of that. The shot helped a bit because I had more movement in my neck a couple of hours later. Claudia dropped the girls off at 5:00, Mike got home at 6:30 and went to get my Rx for me. I took one of each and then stayed up to watch the Gonzaga game. The GU game went into overtime so I was up until 11:30. Yeah! Gonzaga won!! at Tennessee! Hip, hip Hooray! I would have been pissed to stay up that late and have them lose.

Thursday. . .I took all my meds and felt pretty good, a little dizzy maybe in first period, really dizzy and nauseous in second period and just plain loopy in 3rd and 4th. But I was feeling very little pain! The afternoon was better, feeling more lucid and still pain-free. Unfortunately Becca was having a bad time. She was coughing in the morning so I gave her some cough/expectorant stuff, but her teacher called around 11 to ask if she could give her some cough drops. Uh. oh. Mrs. Z called back around 2 to say Becca was still coughing, couldn't stop and was turning red in the face. Poor baby. So Becca came to my room and took some dayQuil (all I had in my purse) drank some water and rested on the beanbags in my room until the end of the day. I have a really fabulous 6th period and planning during 7th period so it didn't really disrupt my schedule at all. We went home right after school taking Claudia's girls with us. Becca was still cough, cough, cough when Claudia came to get her girls so I sent Becca with them so she could use their nebulizer to see if that would calm the cough. It helped a little bit, but it was still bad. Mike gave her some codeine to see if that would help. Kind of worked. But then Becca's temp started to climb and around 10 (not sure because I fell asleep at 9) she threw up.

Friday: Becca and Mike stay home. Kenzie and I go to school. I had to go in to run the Design team meeting, and it was Mike's turn to stay home anyway. This time I took the anti-inflammatory but not the pain killers (valium, vicodin). Not loopy today but OWWWW. Very sore. My students have been very understanding. Good group of kids this year (mostly!). Mike came after school to get Kenzie to take to her art class and I went straight home to watch Becca. Becca doesn't seem too bad. She is not coughing much, hasn't thrown up again and her fever is like 99.5. Hopefully it was just a quick bug and she will be all better tomorrow. I came home, took my pain pills and promptly fell asleep for an hour. Good nurse, aren't I? Becca was busy watching Hannah Montana. I'm not sure she even noticed.

So now you are all caught up on our very dreary, very dull, first week back at school. That is, if you made it all the way to the end of my post, which you probably didn't, cause you are probably asleep. Hey Wake up! We'll try to do something fun this weekend so that I can write about something more exciting than I'm sick. Becca is sick. we went to school. we came home. the end. Tomorrow we plan on cleaning!! That should be much more fun and exciting. Perhaps I will include photos of my vacuum and my mop. Plus I am planning a trip to the grocery store! Woohoo!

My Sanctuary

2009-01-05T21:56:00.003-05:00

For our friends and family, near and far (mostly far), who haven't gotten a chance to visit us here in sunny Florida, here is a photo tour of our bedroom (not quite as pretty as a designer showroom, is it?).

We bought the furniture about a year and a half ago. Prior to that we had an old dresser of Mike's, an old TV cart for a nightstand, a bed from DI, and two bookcases from Wal-Mart. Big improvement, huh? The paintings we bought to commemorate our 13th Wedding Anniversary. And the chair? I got it at an antique store in Snohomish for $50 and slipcovered it myself. Not a bad job, if I do say so myself. The lamps are a mishmash and I am considering replacing them. The paint color was here when we moved in and we haven't bothered to change it. I think it's a good neutral color, but a little bland, maybe? I'm not particularly good at the whole decorating thing, so any advice would be appreciated!

Visit with the Mau Family

2009-01-04T14:35:00.005-05:00

We just got back from a quick trip to Orlando to visit some friends. Laura Mau and I were Girl Scout leaders together back when I lived in Austin and we just recently hooked back up on Facebook. When I found out her family was going to be in Orlando, I decided it was time for a little road trip!

Much to the angst of my children we didn't hit a single amusement park while we were there! We got into town around 2 or so on Friday and stopped to do lunch (Pei Wei - YUM!!) and a little shopping before checking into our hotel which was right across the street from The Marketplace at Downtown Disney. The Maus were staying at Wilderness Lodge, a Disney property. Their resort was so beautiful. It looked like it had been transplanted right out of the Canadian Rockies! It was all decorated for Christmas and it was just so charming.

The Mau's room was on the bottom floor, just a few yards from the swimming pool and the beach. Very convenient with four kids. So after we got there, the kids all played on the beach in the sand until it got dark. This was the view from their room:

Instead of going off-site to eat, we stayed at the Wilderness Lodge. They have several restaurants there; we decided on the fastest option which was a cafeteria type place with indoor and outdoor seating. The food was really quite good. I had a Roast Beef and bleu cheese sandwich with a grilled chicken salad, Kenzie had a turkey and brie sandwich, Mike had pizza and Becca had a burger (I think). Not as expensive as I remember Disney being and the quality was much better than I thought it would be! We ate outside (temps in the high 60s) and were visited by two little bunnies. The kids got a real kick out of that. After dinner we visited some more, took some pictures and tried to see the fireworks from Magic Kingdom (alas! Too many trees in the way).

Here are all of the kids: Clockwise from the left: Rebecca, McKenzie, Andie, Phoebe, Meredith, and Jonathan.

Here is just Laura and me. Laura just celebrated her birthday. Happy Birthday Laura!

What cute girls we have! Becca, Meredith in McKenzie's lap and Andie.

The many blessings of the New Year

2009-01-01T12:03:00.006-05:00

The new year gives us the opportunity to look forward in our lives, to make better choices, to re-examine and reset our priorities. For me, I'd like to look back at 2008 and remember how blessed I am.

Blessings of 2008:

A fabulously comfy bed

We actually bought the new bed in 2007, but it is still a blessing to Mike and I. It is fabulous! Our first King and so glorious that I look forward to crawling in each and every night! Truly the best money we have ever spent and a nightly blessing .

A new fridge

For the past 2 years or so, the fan had been out on our fridge. Mike replaced it once and it died again, so as a stopgap, I placed an $8 Walmart fan behind the fridge to cool the compressor. Ugly, a little awkward, with the fridge sticking out some, but effective. Well, in June, we broke down and bought a new fridge. It has French doors on the top with a freezer drawer below. It's an amazing appliance. The water purifier makes it so that we don't have to purchase nearly as much bottled water and there is a special compartment for the milk that keeps it 5 degrees colder. YUM! Ice cold milk! A simple pleasure. . .

The opportunity to travel

This year we saw some new places and visited some old favorites. We got the opportunity to drive up the East Coast and briefly visited the cities of Savannah, GA, Williamsburg, VA, Washington, DC and Solomon, MD. Just a taste and we are planning to go back, if possible, soon. We also visited the west coast of Florida and saw Weekiwachi Springs and Homosassas State Park, both amazing. We also had a brief visit to Honeymoon Island before McKenzie fell off some rocks and we cut our trip short!

We revisited the Olympic Peninsula in Washington with some good friends and had one of our most pleasant vacations ever! Good friends, good food and the best views ever! Between the girls and I we took over 1000 photographs in 5 days.

The opportunity to say good-bye

My grandfather passed away early this year, and although I did not get a chance to see him, I feel blessed to have had such a wonderful person in my life and I am thankful that he has passed to a better place.

We did, however, get the opportunity to see Mike's dad just before he passed away in June. I consider it a great blessing that my husband and my children were able to say goodbye and to bring some comfort to Ron and his lovely wife, JoAnn, in Ron's last days. Ron has left behind a wonderful legacy, the three people who bring me my greatest Joy.

A reliable car

My Chrysler Pacifica is now three years old but it continues to be a great family car. It has never let me down and suits our needs well. It's very comfortable on long car rides and short jaunts to the store. I haven't always been so lucky and got stranded repeatedly as a teenager so I don't take this blessing for granted. Mike's car is starting to show his age, and I think a new vehicle may be in the near future for him.

A great dog

Sophie entered our lives last December and she has been a great addition to the family. She keeps us active and makes us laugh. She gives Becca somebody to boss around. And I am really, really close to training her to bring in the newspaper for me in the morning.

Fabulous friends

I am blessed to work with my very best friend and I get to eat lunch with her every day. She looks after my children, gives me advice, and makes me laugh. She plans vacations for me, translate Spanish when I need it, volunteers her time with me. She is the big sister I always wanted (and needed!). Claudia, what would I do without you?

A laptop

I love my laptop! It has changed my life. Truly! I love having all my music, photographs, and the wealth of knowledge and information available on the internet, sitting in my lap. I also like that I can sit on my big, comfy, leather couch, with my feet us on my big, comfy leather ottoman and watch TV or talk to my kids or visit with my husband and still have my computer right there. From my favorite seat in the house I can see outside through the French doors, I can see the front door, I can see into the office right where Mike sits most fo the time and I can see the loveseat where my children like to sit. Plus the kitchen is behind me so I can't see any of the dirty dishes. Sweet, huh?

My family

I spend a lot of time on my blog telling everyone about my great family, but it never hurts to say it again, right? My husband is patient, tolerant, kind, honest, brilliant, helpful, and the greatest dad ever. McKenzie is bright, creative, artistic, and a problem-solver. Becca is empathetic, thoughtful, smart, and patient. Together we make a pretty good team.

Yep. Still Sick

2008-12-29T23:55:00.002-05:00

Yes, we are all still sick, but not quite so bad. Becca made it out of her house and onto the couch today. She watched about 12 hours of cartoons, so her brain is probably dead, but she is feeling better. I, however, stayed in bed most of the day. Mostly because I can't stand listening to more than about an hour of cartoons. So I plugged my laptop in next to my bed and camped out there for the day. I watched a couple of movies on Netflix (The Buccaneers mini series was great!) and redesigned my blog (as you can see) and caught up with friends on Facebook. I really never got the whole concept of Facebook until I tried it, and now I'm hopelessly hooked.

Kenzie spent her day playing with her IPOD Touch, entertaining the dog and drawing. tough life, huh? Hopefully tomorrow brings the return of our health and we can at least get out of the house for awhile!

Still Sick

2008-12-28T19:28:00.002-05:00

Just an update, although there isn't much to report. Becca is still sick, sick, sick! Yesterday she started throwing up. Nasty. So that meant loads of laundry. Today she slept in her room until 5:pm. Yep. That's right. She didn't even come out to watch TV or anything. She just slept on and off all day. No music, no reading, just laid there. That's pretty bad.

McKenzie and I are still in the early stages. Bad cough, headache, low fever, lots of snot. I did find that Benadryl really helps. Of course Kendra + Benadryl = 3 Hour Nap, but that's not an entirely bad thing. Thank goodness Mike has been home to help take care of us.

As a side benefit, I had time to pull out my Cricut Expression and play around with it a little bit. It came with two cartridges. I ordered 4 more on the internet (Oh My Crafts has a deal where you could buy four cartridges for $100 and I had a coupon for 10% off so a really good bargain) and I bought the Cricut Design Studio so I can hook the Cricut up to my laptop and manipulate things around a bit. Loads of fun!

Other than that I've mostly been sleeping and surfing the net and McKenzie has been playing with Becca's new Nintendo DS (it's not like Becca is using it!). Kenzie has also been drawing a lot. I got her this fashion creator thing from Klutz and she's been messing around with that a lot. Becca, she's been sleeping. And the dog has been sleeping. And Mike? World of Warcraft of course!

But Santa, we didn't ask for that!

2008-12-26T14:09:00.003-05:00

Well, Santa brought some pretty nasty germs with him and now three of us are fighting them off. Actually, the germs have been here, but they have gotten worse in the last 24 hours. Becca has been fighting off a cold for a week or better. She has had a cough, stuffy nose, low fever. . . in other words, your garden-variety cold. But starting Christmas morning, she said her ears hurt. Bad. Really bad. She even had a hard time eating the prime rib I made for dinner because it hurt to chew. Poor kid. Also, she sneezed while opening gifts (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT) and this long string of greenish yellow snot came shooting out. It was truly impressive in a disgusting sort of way. And you would have been so proud of Becca and how fast she jumped off the couch, hurdled all the gifts and sidestepped the dog to get to the box of Kleenex.

So around two o'clock or so Kenzie and I both started coughing. Thanks for the Christmas present Becca. But you REALLY shouldn't have. Now we are fighting off the cold. (sniff. sniff.)

The kids climbed into bed around 10 or so and I checked in on Becca around 11:30 or so when I went to bed. She felt really hot so I took her temp: 102.6. Not good. I took Becca to the doctor this morning. Dr. Peck said that both of Becca's ears are definitely infected on top of a sinus and respiratory infection. Well, swell. . . so off ot Walmart to get the Rx. But they were swamped so we dropped off the Rx and came home. We got home around 11 and Becca went straight back to bed. That was over three hours ago and she has been out the whole time. I know she is very sick. It would take something serious to keep Becca away from the TV, computer and her new Nintendo DS voluntarily.

Other than that, we had a nice Christmas. We had our neighbors over for Christmas Eve. They have an 8 year old daughter and a two year old daughter. K is one day older than my niece Ellie. F is a total doll and is in love with Mike. When it was time to go, she said, "NO! I want him!" Well, sweetie, he's not for sale. Too cute. It's been a while since I've seen Mike play with a little girl. He is such a great dad. For dinner we had ham, cheese, and pesto roll ups, clam chowder and salad (with pecans, blue cheese and dried cranberries YUM!). Easy and very tasty.

Christmas morning the girls slept in until after 9. Being sick will do that I guess. Becca got a really cool scooter, a Nintendo DS, and a vanity mirror. Kenzie got a bow & arrow, an art easel and watercolor supplies, and an IPOD Touch. I got speakers for my laptop, but I think I may take them back and get cordless ones. The ones Mike got me sound fantastic but there are cords everywhere! One for power, one to the computer, cords between the speakers, etc. Not terribly convenient. Mike's big surprise was a pair of leather overstuffed drafting chairs for the office. They are very comfy, but they weren't packed very well and both have rips in the leather, so we are going to end up sending them back for replacements. Disappointing and a pain in the ass, because I looked around for a long time to find just the right ones.

Well, I'm off to Walmart to pick up Becca's Rx. And then back to do some cleaning up. WIth any luck, I'll get a few spare minutes for a nap as well!

Not Much

2008-12-23T07:28:00.003-05:00

Not much going on here the past couple of days. Becca has been laid low by a bad cold so we've been stuck home for the most part. She had a little cough on Friday, a low level fever and cough Saturday and by yesterday (Monday) she had a continuous cough and a fever of 101.1. Poor thing. She spend yesterday, the whole day, on the couch watching TV. She didn't even get up to play on the computer! That's when you know she seriously doesn't feel good. A day without checking in at Club Penguin and WebKinz World? Unheard of.

We've been giving Becca meds to bring down the fever and quiet her cough. The meds must be stronger than I thought. When Mike was putting Becca to bed on Sunday night she whacked her head hard on the headboard of her bed. He thought for sure that she was gonna cry, but she got a goofy smile on her face. Oh no, he thought, she knocked herself silly! So he asked her, "Becca, are you okay?" and she said, "Yeah. All that medicine made it not hurt at all." Oops. We may want to look into that.

The good news is that my house is pretty clean. Yesterday I had time to do my room, my bath and the kitchen from top to bottom. Kenzie took care of the main bath (also known as Sophie's bath since she is the only one who showers in there). Thanks Kenz! Today I need to finish wrappping so I can clean up the disaster of my dining room and tidy up the living room and I'll be all set. The office is a lost cause, but since I don't go in there except to retrieve the occasional print-out, I don't consider that my problem anymore. :) One of the best things about having a laptop with a wireless connection is that I don't have to sit in the God-awful uncomfortable chairs in our office anymore! Mike and Becca can stand it for hours, but my little hiney was not made for hard wooden seats. I like my soft leather sofa much better!

With Becca's bad cold and the horrific weather conditions in the northwest, I'm kind oof glad that my folks weren't able to make it for Christmas. Or that we didn't try to fly home. Somebody would be stranded in an airport somewhere, I'm quite sure. And Becca is better off resting and not contaminating more family members than she already has. This is the silver lining on that particular cloud. And my folks will be here in April and we will all go to Daytona Beach together. That sounds like it will be lots of fun! Kenzie is already planning a return trip to St Augustine to see the fort that we didn't get a chance to see last time.

I've had a fun time catching up with old friends on Facebook this past week. People that I didn't even know that I was missing until I talk to them again. And then I remember why we were friends in the first place! Moving around so much makes it very hard to keep in touch with friends scattered near and far. There are just some people that you will remain friends with no matter how much time passes.

On the tech front: my camera appears to be working once again (it was having problems detecting the memory card and wouldn't record pictures), my printer should be up and running again once the new printhead arrives this week, and I still don't have a cell phone.

My Little Nerdlings

2008-12-19T22:07:00.004-05:00

Have I ever mentioned that my children are brilliant? Not just the my mom thinks I'm brilliant kind of brilliant, but the I'm-headed-to-Harvard kind of brilliant. Progress Reports went home yesterday. On the teacher end I deal with many kids who look at me in disbelief when they take home that D or F. "What do you mean I got an F. I never do any work but that shouldn't affect my grade, right?"

On the parent end, progress report day is a great day! My kids each brought home straight As. Not just ordinary A's but the over 95 and even over 100 type of A's. I'm so proud. Bet you couldn't tell.

Speaking of nerdlings. . . we have a friend visiting tonight who is every bit as nerdy as my own two geeks. Becca and her friend were talking in the back seat about what they want to do when they grow up. Becca said that she wanted to be a famous writer (this is a new one), but didn't think it would really happen. Her friend's goal? To solve the mystery of the disappearance of Jamestown. When I asked if she wanted to be a researcher, she said, "No. I want to be a historian. Actually, a presidential historian." What eight-year-old spits out, "I want to be a presidential historian?" What happened to being a ballerina? It just goes to show that our little friend is probably headed to Harvard, too.

Big NerdlingLittle Nerdling

Honorary Nerdling

Monday, Monday. . .

2008-12-15T18:50:00.005-05:00

Happy Monday! I've been in a great mood all day. Not sure why; it defies rationality. It's Monday, I have to work, I'm tired, and yet I've been smiley all day!

Maybe it's because I am finally feeling better. For about a week or so, starting on Thursday, Dec. 4, I ran a low grade fever. Never above 100 degrees, but it hovered around 99.5 for several days. No other symptoms except for a small headache and a few chills, just a slight fever. Needless to say, it sapped my strength. I ended up leaving work early on Dec 5 because I was really dizzy (my first sick day taken for me in 4 years) and I mostly stayed home last week and went to bed early. I stayed home on Wednesday but more because I was waiting for a Christmas package to be delivered that I had to sign for (Ivar's Clam Chowder!!! YUM!) than because I couldn't work. At any rate, I am feeling much better now.

Maybe I was so chipper because I'm finally feeling in the Christmas spirit. The tree is finally up and decorated and there are a few packages under it. Mike put the lights up outside yesterday and I put up a few other outside decorations. We have even started to get some Christmas cards in the mail! Some people obviously have too much time on their hands.

Maybe it is because it is 75 degrees outside in Port St Lucie and exceptionally cold everywhere else! it sounds like most of the northwest got covered in snow over the weekend and now it is frigid cold and windy. It's absolutely gorgeous here: warm and breezy with highs in the 70s and lows in the 60s. It doesn't get any better than this!

Or maybe it is because I spent the last two days on Facebook catching up with old friends. It's like a 24-hour reunion of Moses Lake grads at that place! It's been so much fun catching up with people I haven't seen in years! Of course my house is a total disaster, my fridge is empty and I haven't spoken to my kids or hubby in two days either. Talk about addicting! It's crazy. There are always friends to chat with and email, there are photos to browse and links to click. There are games to play and applications to look at. It's neve rending!! I even lost two pounds! I was so busy messing around online that I didn't even stop to eat! Okay, that's an exaggeration. . . but I definitely held off on the snacks. Hmmm. . . the Facebook diet. That's a novel idea.

Getting to Know Me Christmas-style!

2008-12-13T10:11:00.003-05:00

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I have gift bags and I tend to think that they are more environmentally friendly, but there's really nothing like tearing into a Christmas present and ripping off the paper, is there? Plus I like to be creative and paper is more conducive to that.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial, are you kidding? Have you seen the price of a real tree in Florida?? And I think it would be hard to keep it fresh in this kind of heat.

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the Saturday or Sunday after Thanksgiving, but we were gone this year. So Mike got it out last Sunday and finished putting it up Tuesday night. It is a pre-lit tree and several of the light strands were not working, so Mike took ALL of the lights off the tree. Each one had a clip that had to be snipped off and he had to unwind every strand from each and every branch, etc. It took approximately 1800 hours. Okay, only about 10, but you have to respect the guy's tenacity. If it was up to me? I would have gone to Sam's Club, bought a new tree and been back in under 20 minutes.

4. When do you take the tree down? I guess I don't have a tradition for that. I should start a new one. Wouldn't it be great to look forward to taking down the tree instead of dreading it more than a dentist appointment? I'll have to think about that one. . . I think it usually comes down the first weekend after New Year's.

5. Do you like eggnog? Revolting. Seriously, like milk that's been left on the counter for a couple of days.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Sadly, nothing specific comes to mind. Blame that on my poor memory, not on skinflint parents! My mom was so incredibly generous at Christmas that we always got tons of great stuff. I remember always getting a new babydoll every year, which I loved. My dad made me a rocking chair when I was 15 which I still have. It's in my classroom and I sit in it to read to my class each day.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Mike, definitely. He has very simple tastes. He usually buys the stuff he needs and there isn't really anything he wants. Becca, to a lesser extent. She always asks for impractical things, like a pony or a baby or something like that.

8. Do you have a nativity scene? Shockingly, no. You would think I would have one considering all of the angels in our house.

9. Mail or email Christmas cards? I had photo cards made this year, but haven't mailed them yet. I will probably send an email to friends and family on Christmas Day, too.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Hmmm. . . probably something from Mike. I love him dearly, but he is definitely missing a gift-buying gene. Last year he bought me sheets for our bed. And they were light blue. Whut?????? And too small. He is, however, good at keeping receipts.

11. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christmas, with Bing Crosby. Ever before I was a Gonzaga alum, I loved that movie. More recent? Home Alone.

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually around Labor Day or so, I start thinking about gifts and I pick up things here and there. This year I got a late start. I didn't buy anything until after Thanksgiving.

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Probably once or twice, but not on a regular basis. But I don't think that there is anything wrong with regifting. A gift is a gift.

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? As a kid, I remember having Chico's Pizza for Christmas Eve and usually ham for Christmas Day. Now we always broil a big, juicy steak for Christmas Dinner. Last year we had Christmas Eve with friends and had Cuban food. This year I ordered Ivar's Clam Chowder. They mail it to you frozen. How much does that cost you ask? Too much, but I ordered it anyway!

15. Lights on the tree? What kind of question is this??? Are there seriously people out there who do not put lights on their tree????? That's got to be against the law. And I prefer all white. Not that I find the colored ones offensive or anything. I just like the simplicity of all white and I think it makes my angels look better.

16. Favorite Christmas song? Do I have to pick just one?? I have about 500 in my ITunes Library. And yes, I know all the words. And yes I sing along. LOUDLY. Favorite traditional songs: O Come All Ye Faithful. O Come Emmanuel, The Holly and the Ivy Favorite contemporary? The River, I'm Just a Candy Maker, Let's Be Naughty and Save Santa the Trip.

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? As a kid, we almost always stayed home (one trip to Bend, Oregon that I can remember). Since I got married: 1995-1997 (traveled from Utah to Moses Lake); 1998, Leavenworth; 1999, Moses lake at Brant and Penny's teeny-tiny house with my folks and Penny's whole family; 2000, Ogden Valley (prettiest Christmas EVER!); 2001, Hope, Idaho (butt-cold); 2002, Birch Bay, Washington; 2003, Austin, Texas; 2004, Arrow Point, Lake Couer d' Alene; 2005, Daytona Beach, Florida; 2006, Orlando, Florida; 2007-2008, Home in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Of course. . . You know Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid, Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all? Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! Did you doubt me? I told you I know every word of every Christmas song.

19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Given my penchant for angels, you would think an angel, but no, I don't like total predictability. Actually since the tree is covered with angels of every size, shape, and color, we crown our tree with a gold thingy. . .um. . . don't know if it has a real name. . . my vocabulary fails me. . . ugh! Okay, it's gold, about 14 inches high, has two vaguely spherical parts and is pointy on top. Please let me know what this type of thing is called. . . it's going to drive me crazy. [Note: Kenzie says it's a spire. . . but that still doesn't sound quite right.]

20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? For the past couple of years the girls open one present a day, leading up to Christmas. This way they take the time to enjoy each gift instead of being so overwhelmed by everything. This has worked out very well for us. Mike and I open all of our presents on Christmas Day and the girls get their stockings, big Santa gift and gifts from each other.

21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Having to work! Eighth graders tend to be semi-insane all year long, but Christmas time is even worse. Plus, I really miss being a SAHM this time of the year. I loved having time before to make handmade gifts and bake treats and decorate the house, etc. I've had to make a lot of sacrifices since going back to work and scaling down Christmas has been one of them. Of course, with a paycheck I can afford to give way better gifts.

22. Favorite ornament theme or color? Angels of course. We have five trees in our house, each with a different them: The big tree in the living room is covered with angels and gold and silver ornaments. Kenzie's little tree is covered in seashells, blue, teal and green ornaments. Becca's is covered with hot pink, purple, and bright blue ornaments. Mike's tree is covered in baseball players (his mom sends him the Hallmark one each year) and red, white and blue ornaments. I also have a little tree that I keep in the kitchen that is covered in all of our homemade ornaments from over the years. It's probably the ugliest tree ever, but it is beautiful to me.

23. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Rib-eye steak. YUM! We get T-Bones, now, so that Sophie can have a special Christmas treat too. On the side, homemade rolls, mashed sweet potatoes, homemade chunky apple sauce, and grilled asparagus spears with Hollandaise sauce. Usually apple pie for dinner, although last year I made Key Lime Pie.

24. What do you want for Christmas this year? I've already posted by Christmas wish list. Mostly I want some peace and quiet and time to enjoy my beautiful family.

Kendra's Christmas Wish List

2008-12-07T12:11:00.006-05:00

My Christmas List

In random order as I think of things:

Measuring spoons

These ones from Crate and Barrel seem especially nice. Really anything from Crate & Barrel.

A great, big prep bowl (for making Chex Mix, stuffing, caramel popcorn, etc), preferably stainless steel

New oven mitt and potholders (cream, red, orange or green).Not silicone, I'm an old-fashioned kind of girl.

Speakers for my laptop. I want to be able to use my laptop as a stereo so I can listen when I am cleaning.

ITunes gift certificates. I don't actually have an IPOD, but I use I Tunes to listen to music on my laptop.

New knives. Wusthof or Henckels (based on Consumer Reports tests). Mine are from my wedding (a looooooooooooong time ago) and I must admit that we haven't taken really good care of them.

Cookware (I'm not desperate, just greedy) I have one Calphalon pan and I absolutely love it!!

Mini deep fryer. Something pretty small, just big enough for a batch of sweet potato fries or a few chicken strips.

A book on HTML so I can figure out this whole blogging thing. I'd like to be able to tinker with the look of my blog a little bit more. Right now I just cut and paste from other people. That's kind of cheating, don't you think?

A new cell phone. Yeah, this should probably be at the top of the list. I lost mine in Orlando. I think it might have been at Downtown Disney. Oops. This is the same one I dropped in the toilet. Twice.

Apparently, I also need a new printer/scanner. According to the Canon website, Error 5200 is not good. It doesn't tell you what is wrong, only that you must take it in to an authorized repair shop. Closest one? Boca Raton. . . 87 miles away. Yeah, right. I'm thinking that it would be cheaper to get a new one from Santa Claus!

A Tree of Life Necklace.

I like this one from Walmart, but there are lots of really beautiful ones available on the internet

Good Quality Vanilla (I'm too cheap to buy it myself. I always get the imitation vanilla)

Salad spinner (I always buy bagged lettuce, but I could use the spinner for rinsing cilantro, which I am addicted to. . . is there a 12-step program for guacamole addicts?)

Kenzie's Christmas List

2008-12-07T12:07:00.002-05:00

1.
2.
3.

Nothing. McKenzie doesn't make Christmas lists. She is morally opposed to the idea. She likes to be surprised so she doesn't ever tell me what she wants. This is not a new thing. It's been this way since she was about 5. And it does make for some great WOW! moments on Christmas morning. But I know it makes it hard on loved ones to buy gifts. So my advice: Books are always good, craft items, clothes (Size Women XS on top, Size 0 on the bottom), tickets to movies, plays, performances, etc.

Becca's Christmas Wish List

2008-12-07T12:05:00.002-05:00

Okay. . . not a traditional Dear Santa letter this year. I got handed a post-it the other day with the following items on it:

Nintendo Wii
Nintendo DS Lite
Bella Sara cards
Webkinz

That's it. What's a mom to do? The first two cost an arm and a leg! The Bella Sara cards are like $1.99 for a packet of 5 and a Webkinz is like $10 (she already has five I think). Not much help Becca.

Too Tired!

2008-12-02T20:23:00.002-05:00

Sorry it's been a while since the last posting. We've been crazy busy.

Our family spent the Thanksgiving holiday scattered around. Becca stayed in Port St Lucie with her friend Rachel and had a great time. According to Rachel's mom, they were very LOUD!! Not something we usually hear about Rebecca. But Rachel is an only child, so it probably did seem very loud to have two eight-year-olds talking non-stop for five days! Since Rachel's mom is a second grade teacher, I'm sure she'll recover!

McKenzie spent six days out in the swamps of Okeechobee riding ATVs, singing around the campfire, playing hide-and-seek in the dark . . . cool, huh? She spent Thanksgiving eating outside with a family group of about 40 or so. They had seven turkeys, two hams and pork ribs! Not a traditional feast, but much enjoyed I'm sure. Kenzie came home with a few scratches but no broken bones.

So why were the children gone from home for the holiday? Well, Mike and I were at the Old Spice Classic basketball tourney in Orlando from Thursday through Sunday. We found out in August that Gonzaga would be playing and since we NEVER get to see them play, we decided to go. Even when GU is on national TV, the games are on too late for us to watch. We considered taking the kids along but neither is a big sports fan, so we decided to go just the two of us. Please don't think we are selfish. This is our first overnight trip away from our kids since March of 2002 and only our second trip since McKenzie was born. This was VERY out of the ordinary for us.

So Mike and I got to watch Gonzaga win three games (YEAH!!!! #5 in the country!!!) and we also got to watch a few other top-caliber teams play. It was so strange to be able to watch a game without someone asking "Is it over yet?" "Can we get another drink?" "I have to go to the bathroom." "Is it over yet??" "I'm bored." "Is it over yet???" I really enjoyed the games. Gonzaga is really fun to watch.

We also got some Christmas shopping done. Big city, no kids, why not? We even watched a PG-13 movie, Quantum of Solace. Very good, by the way. The last movie that just Mike and I went to was in January 2000. Crazy huh?

So Mike and I pulled into PSL around 12:30am Monday morning and had to get up to go to work (the girls came to school with their respective friends). Needless to say I was a bit sluggish, but the real exhaustion hit today. I had three people tell me I looked so tired! Okay, I get it!! I graded papers until 5 and then the girls and I headed to Sam's Club for groceries and dinner. I barely made it thru dinner before I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up in time to see The Biggest Loser. So I am watching that now and typing (gotta love the laptop with wireless internet). I'm sure I left out lots of details, but now you know the gist of our Thanksgiving. I'll try to add photos and more as time and energy permit!

Saturday in Fort Pierce

2008-11-24T20:30:00.004-05:00

We have had a spell of much cooler weather these past couple of weeks. Kenzie and I especially have enjoyed the chilly weather. It just makes us so happy to be able to wear sweaters and feel the cool air on our faces! On Saturday we spent the morning doing chores and then headed out to IRSC (Indian River State College) to see a program at the Planetarium, fittingly called "The Planets." After that we walked through a little craft/food fair sponsored by DECA. Lots of fun Christmas crafts, but we ended up buying sunglasses for the whole family! Hey, you can't beat $5! After that we drove down to the Fort Pierce Marina to see if we could find any manatees. They are in our area from November through March and we have never seen one. We still haven't ever seen one. Yep. We struck out. But the weather was nice, sunny and cool, so we took a drive over the causeway and went to the beach. It was crazy windy. We even saw some windsurfers and they were getting some major air! It was way too cold (for us wimps anyway) to go in the water, but we had fun watching the tide come in. The sun was setting and hitting the waves just right so it made for some pretty pictures.

Family Literacy Night

2008-11-24T20:14:00.004-05:00

Last Thursday (November 20) our school celebrated Family Literacy Night. We had a turnout of about 250-300 people so that was a nice success. Last year only two families showed up for Lit Night!!! It was horribly embarassing and so sad. . .

So this year we changed it up and tried to make it sound like a lot more fun. As the Design Team co-chair, I automatically got volunteered as co-chair of the event along with the Reading Coach. Our plan was to focus on fun and building community. The schools around here don't have much for parent involvement, at least not compared to other communities where we have lived. An average PTO meeting might have 12-15 people and 10 of them are teachers and admin. Keep in mind that our school has 1600-1700 students. Pathetic, huh?

So our theme was "Have a Dog Gone Good Time Reading!" We served hotdogs and chips and all of the events (well, most of them) had a dog theme. There were six activities for 4-8th graders and six activities for the parents of K-3rd graders. The K-3rd graders themselves made doggie masks and performed in a skit, "The Three Little Puppies," based loosely on the Three Little Pigs. It was really cute.

Everyone who came got this cool little kit with a whiteboard, dry erase marker, book, index cards, highlighter, etc. We gave away tons of stuff: craft kits from Lowe's, free kids' meals from Chili's and TGIFridays, coupons for free books, etc. Becca even won a manicure! She is very excited about that.

Turnout was good, not great, but everyone who came had a really good time. And I am so thankful that it is over!

Honor Roll Assembly

2008-11-17T20:17:00.002-05:00

Today was Honor Roll day at SLWK8. Both girls made the Honor roll for for the first quarter. Rebecca made the Principal's Honor Roll (straight As) and McKenzie made the A Honor Roll (all As with a B in math). Of course I forgot my camera! I never forget my camera. I got a couple of shots with my camera phone, but it's just not the same! Plus I didn't save them to my memory card, so I can't get the pictures off my phone! Oops.

McKenzie was really disappointed that she didn't make Principal's Honor Roll (she had made it 7 times in a row and then missed it at the end of last year with a B in science). She really struggled with her multiplication fact timed tests at the beginning of the quarter and it sunk her grade. we think it is a good time to learn a lesson. McKenzie would whine about not doing well, but wouldn't spend time practicing so she could improve unless forced to. We reap what we sow. Better to learn the lesson now than later.

Again, sorry no pics. Maybe one of my friends will come through with some photos?

RIP Alice

2008-11-17T20:11:00.005-05:00

I just found out my brother's family dog, Alice, passed away yesterday. Just wanted to post some photos of her. She was a really great dog.
Unfailingly patient with people, her fellow canines, and even cats!

Alice has been a part of the family for so long; it will be strange to not have her around.

Good-bye Alice. We'll miss you.

Stampin Up! Roller stamps

2008-11-16T10:36:00.002-05:00

I'm looking for someone who is willing to give my Stampin' Up! roller stamps a good home. I have nine rollers, the handle and two ink cartridges (green and black). I rarely stamp these days and I never use the rollers. I hate to just give them to Goodwill. What if they went to someone who didn't appreciate how special they are??
So first come, first serve. Just let me know that you will take good care of them and I will mail them to you just in time for making Christmas projects! : )

All Work and No Play

2008-11-13T18:18:00.002-05:00

I remember thinking of a good title for this posting when I was driving to work this morning, but now I have forgotten it. . . maybe I will remember before I am done!

Another crazy work week. Monday was a professional development day, so all the teachers spent the day at our third full day of Kagan training (not Kegel training!). Kagan is a way of planning instruction to maximize student participation and engagement. Instead of asking, "who knows the answer to this question?" and one student answers you would have students write the answer, share with their shoulder partner and then have pairs confer with other pairs, etc. It's a way to get everyone thinking instead of just the one or two kids who already know the answer anyway. It's good stuff but I've already had the training before and then another two days at the beginning of this year and then Monday's training. I've got it already!!

Tuesday was glorious. I stayed home with the kids all day and did laundry and cleaned and got caught up on chores and played on the computer. Of course I had stacks of papers to grade but I decided to be a homemaker for the day. McKenzie had a friend over and I helped them with a school project. I was so not feeling like grading that I actually contemplated cleaning out the garage and the kitchen junk drawer! In the end I spent about two hours grading student work.

Wednesday it caught up with me because I had to stay at work until 7:30 grading papers, inputting them in the computer and printing progress reports (goes home every two weeks). Bleh!!! Needless to say I was exhausted by the time I got home. The girls had gone home with some friends from school and Mike and Sophie picked them up and they all went out to pizza. I went to Arby's. That doesn't seem quite fair, does it?

Today the girls and I stayed until 6 o'clock. I finished up a bulletin board and then spent an hour trying to find my desk again. If this keeps up I should just leave a sleeping bag in my closet. I am looking forward to putting my feet up and watching Survivor and going to bed early! Such an exciting life we lead!

Dang! I still can't remember what I was going to name my next post. It was really cute, I promise. . .

Veteran's Day

2008-11-11T21:31:00.003-05:00

A big thank you to all the men and women out there in the military who risk their lives to ensure our freedom every day!

And, most of all, thanks DAD! We love you and we miss you!

Pioneer Woman

2008-11-10T21:23:00.002-05:00

Do you wanna know what I do when I am procrastinating? When I really don't want to fold the laundry or grade another paper I head over to www.thepioneerwoman.com. You should check it out. But beware, it's addicting.

Stuart Air Show

2008-11-10T19:39:00.013-05:00

So on Sunday, we packed up the little troops and headed south to Stuart for the annual Visiting Nurse's Association Air Show. I'd heard about it before, but we had never gone. In fact, I don't think I've been to an airshow in my life (I'm sure my mom will correct me if I'm wrong!). So we got to the airfield around 11 a.m. and found a place to set up the lawn chairs and the blanket. It ended up being a great spot. Who knew?? Beginner's luck, I guess. The day was absolutely gorgeous, south Florida at its best. Seventy-eight degrees, a slight breeze and loads of sunshine. The airshow was open from 9 a.m. to 5:00 with the performances beginning at 1:00, so we had a couple hours to look around before the excitement was set to begin.
Of course we started with food, because everyone knows a hungry kid (or spouse) in a cranky kid. Becca had a hotdog, Mike and Kenzie split an Italian Sausage and I had something called a Chicken Devine. It was "divine" but a messier meal I have never had in my life. Chicken Devine was pita bread crammed with shredded chicken, cooked onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and sour cream type dressing. Before I was finished I had spilled on my jeans, my shoes, my shirt three times and gotten it on my face and in my hair. I kid you not. But YUM!

After lunch we headed over to the airplanes (aka static exhibits, as noted on the map). They all looked different, but I can't keep any of them straight (very sad). We went into a big navy airplane. There were also small and medium planes, but we chose the big one and got to visit with some airmen and look at the cockpit.

We had to wait about 15 minutes or so to get into the planes, so we only went into the one. There were a lot of smaller, private aircraft that we looked at too, but my children were even less interested in the particulars of the aircraft than me. So we took pity on them and took them over to the KidZone (rides!!). The girls were told they could choose one ride and one ride only (what can I say? The rides were $4 each and I'm cheap!). So they went on a swing thing that they both loved! It was worth the $8 to see their smiles. At the end of the day we let them go on another one because we had extra tickets and they had been so very good.

Here was Ride #2, The Rock and Rolla, which rolled on a track like a hamster wheel. It was pretty funny watching the girls fly by, upside down, screaming, with Kenzie's hair flying around. You can see the mixed reaction on the girls' faces: "That was soooooooo cool!"

"I hated that! I can't believe I lived! I thought I was gonna die!

After their first ride, we headed back to our seats to see the show. . .

It was really amazing! There was definitely a patriotic vibe, being Veteran's Day weekend and most of the performer's made special dedications to all the men and women who are risking their lives for us around the world in the name of freedom. I found it very moving and fought back tears a few times. We saw lots of different military jets, old and new, from World War II models to Top Gun jets. The F-16 is LOUD! Crazy loud and amazing to watch. So fast and maneuverable in the air; it really is awe-inspiring to watch. The sun was behind the planes so it was a little difficult to get really good photos. But I tried to capture a few and even shot some video:

So what did my children think of these death-defying, miraculous feats of airmanship?

Sometimes, a picture says MORE than a thousand words!

Whistle while you work!

2008-11-06T19:48:00.002-05:00

Two more long days at work. . .

Yesterday I stayed after school until about six o'clock (thank God I have patient children who can entertain themselves for long periods of time) dealing with union stuff. I am one of the union reps at our school and I had invited the union president to come visit so we could share our concerns and she could answer a few questions. All in all, things are pretty good at our school. But it's always nice to have an outside viewpoint. So that took a while. It's one of the only chances I get to visit with teachers in other grades. I feel so segregated! I work in a separate building with only 8th grade teachers and I eat lunch with all the 8th grade teachers, so I really don't see the K-7 teachers except at trainings and faculty meetings.

Today we were at school until 6:30 or so. I stayed until about 5 helping the Reading Coach put together the flyer for Family Literacy Night at the end of the month. It is one of those things that was supposed to be taken care of by a committee but the committee kept shifting the duty to someone else and suddenly it had to be done NOW! We don't have school next Monday or Tuesday so if it didn't get done and printed for tomorrow, it wouldn't go out until next Wednesday and then it would be too late. . . Anyway, it got done and it looks very nice I think. Then there was some visiting. . . one of my vices that keeps me from ever leaving at 4 when the day is supposed to be over. . . and then I spent an hour poring over test results from the District benchmarks and getting my plans ready for tomorrow. I have been playing catch up constantly for two weeks now. Ever since I started my blog. . . hmmmm. . . strange coincidence, wouldn't you say?

So now I am home. Mike made us dinner and is now walking the dog with McKenzie and Becca is in the bathtub, so it is nice and quiet. All I can hear is the dishwasher in the background. Ahhh. . .silence is bliss after a long day at work with hundreds of very loud children.

So tomorrow I go to work early for a Design Team Meeting (I am co-chair) where we will spend one last meeting finalizing everything for Literacy Night. There are 44 volunteers and six committees to oversee. Then a full day of teaching, a parent conference during planning (ethics prevent me from saying any more about that) and then off to McKenzie's Drawing class, the one night of the week where we are not at school until 5 or 6 at night. Whoever thinks that teachers have it easy should spend just one day shadowing me. What I do is hard work and exhausting, mentally and physically.

Ah, Sophie and Mike and Kenzie are back and Survivor just started. Must be time to go.

Election Day!

2008-11-04T21:36:00.002-05:00

My students were very excited about the election today. They voted in their U.S. History class and our team chose Obama over McCain 98-20. Young people, at least in our neighborhood, are really excited about an Obama presidency. I was glad I voted with an absentee ballot and did not have to suffer through long lines.

Long day at work. Three IEPS! That more than I attended all of last year! Of course last year I was on an ESOL team and this year I am on an ESE team, but still. . . three in one day is a lot. So I was in and out of my classroom all day which is hard to plan for. Plus I am busy coordinating Family Lit Night and getting ready for a union meeting after school tomorrow. After school the girls and I stayed until 6 so I could get a few grades in the grade book and clear off my desk (it gets out of control very quickly). By the time we got home at 6:15 it was dark out! I hate that. But I must admit I like having sunshine in the morning. It's not fun to get up in the dark.

Mike is finally all moved in to his new digs at work. He has been in the same building on the FAU campus since we moved here, but now the new building, the permanent home, is done, so he has spent the last week coordinating the move. He has been wearing jeans and T-shirts to work and he said he could easily be mistaken for one of the moving crew! I'll have to get him to post some pictures of his new space. It sounds like it has been a pain in the rear moving all the instumentation and making sure that it is all hooked right and with all the safety protocols in place. I gather that Mike was very specific in his requests for what needed to be done and he was very frustrated when things were not done as he requested. I must admit Mike does not suffer fools lightly. : )

A Day in Stuart

2008-11-02T20:44:00.005-05:00

Saturday morning we spent at home, playing on the computer, watching TV, reading, doing laundry. McKenzie is reading "Twilight" again. She read all four books of the series in 12 days Z(well over 2000 pages) so now she is rereading since she inhaled them whole the first time through. I was working on genealogy at ancestry.com; Mike was playing World of Warcraft; Becca was catching up on Hannah Montana.

Around one o'clock or so we drove into Stuart (town just south of us, about 20 minutes away) and had lunch at the Ashley. It was fabulous! I had a green apple salad, with spring greens, grilled chicken, candied walnuts and blue cheese. Mike had a prosciutto burger. McKenzie had a smoked salmon and avocado panini. And Becca had cheese ravioli in a bechamel sauce. Very good and under $50 for the four of us.

We had gone to Stuart because the little heritage museum there was having a Kid's Day. There were a lot of volunteers about and they had some special exhibits going; one was about firearms and another was about Seminole Indian dolls. It was fun and the weather was perfect for walking around.

One of the volunteers was quite taken with Becca and commented on her "incredible eyes." He must have mentioned how pretty she was at least three times. A little creepy if you ask me. So I kept her close by. She told me that it made her feel weird to be told how pretty she was, but also feel kind of cool, too. People comment on her eyes frequently, but she's a bit uncomfortable with being told she is pretty. Her front teeth have come in rather crooked and she is self-conscious about it, especially since her baby teeth were so perfect and straight. I'm sure braces are in the near future. About the time McKenzie is done, it will be time for Rebecca to start. So for the next 4 years or so I will be visiting the orthodontist monthly. It's a good thing the office is close to school!

After we poked around the heritage museum for a while we walked out the back to take a short stroll. The museum backs up to the St Lucie River and there is a boardwalk that follows along the river for a ways. It was destroyed during the hurricanes of 2004 (like most of Stuart) and recently rebuilt. We happened to catch a lovely rainbow on our walk.

A little game called "Husband Tag"

2008-11-02T08:52:00.002-05:00

I'm stealing this idea from Nicole. Thanks for the idea, Nic!

1. Where did you meet your husband? We were both going to Gonzaga and I had just joined the men's crew team as a coxswain. The first time I saw Mike he was late coming in to practice (Shocking, I Know) and he set his textbooks (why didn't he have a backpack??) before he got on an erg. I can't exactly remember the titles of the books but I think it was Advanced Calculus and Analytical Chemistry or something like that. So I knew right away that he was smart as well as very good looking. I decided to forgive the always late part.

2. How long did you date before you got married? We dated for about 2 1/2 years before becoming engaged and got married when we had been dating for 3 years, 3 months and 5 days. (I'm weird about this kind of stuff)

3. How long have you been married? Thirteen years this past June.

4. What does he do to surprise you? Ha. Ha. That's funny. He doesn't surprise me frequently, but once, for Christmas, he really surprised me by contacting our wedding photographer and buying all the negatives from our wedding so that I could have all the photos that were taken. I had been having a hard time putting together a wedding scrapbook because all I had were a few snapshots. The professional photos were all in an album and didn't copy well (which was against the copyright, too) so Mike decided to get me the negatives so I could do the wedding album the way I wanted. You're sniffling aren't you? That's alright. I bawled like a baby I was so overwhelmed and touched by his thoughtfulness.

5. What is your favorite feature of his? Eyes, for sure.

6.What is your favorite quality? Honesty and deep-down goodness

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Nope.

8. What is his favorite food? Almost anything, but he loves it when I bake for him (peanut butter cookies, coffee cake, apple crisp, etc)

9. What is his favorite sport? He likes to golf and watch college sports and MLB.

10. When and where did you first kiss? March 13, 1992 in Riverfront Park, in Spokane, Washington, overlooking the falls.

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? We like to talk, hang out with the kids, and eat out.

12.Do you have children? Yes, 2 girls

13. Does he have any hidden talents? Hmmm. . . apparently not, because I can't think of anything.

14. How old is he? 36

15. Who said I love you first? He said "I think I'm falling in love with you," and I said, "I know I'm falling in love with you."

16. What is his favorite music? Classic Rock I would say although he doesn't listen to music all that much. I think in the car he listens to talk radio when he is by himself and when the kids and I are with him, he lets us control the radio, which is really very sweet.

17. What do you admire most about him? In 16 years he has never once lied to me. He doesn't have a deceitful bone in his body.

18. What is his favorite color? Red

19. Will he read this? I hope so.

20. People I tag: Carolee, Lisa, and anyone else who would like to participate.

Jack-o-lanterns

2008-11-01T22:45:00.003-04:00

Here is the photo McKenzie took of her and Rebecca's pumpkins. They created them al by themselves. (Normally I would have helped but I was chained to a sewing machine!) Mike supervised but he was distracted by a coconut, so the girls were pretty much on their own.

I know that you are asking yourself, "What coconut?" so I will explain. . . A few weeks ago Mike found a couple coconuts on the ground. I can't remember if it was while he was golfing or at work or what, but he comes home with two coconuts. The dog thinks they are great fun and has been playing with them in the back yard. She chews on them and pulls the husk stuff off, so they have been put to good use. Well, when we went out to buy our pumpkins this year, Mike said he didn't want one becase he was going to carve the coconut, a Florida jack-o-lantern, so to speak. So while the girls were scooping out pumpkins guts and carving their masterpieces, Mike had out the Dremel and created his very own one-of-a-kind coco-lantern.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T21:00:00.006-04:00

Happy Halloween Everyone!

The wings got finished last night. Now I know why all the wings that we have had in the past have been purchased! Kind of a pain. . . and they turned out kind of wonky. But overall my girls looked fantastic and very beautiful.

We went to Tradition, a nearby neighborhood/shopping area. They had live music, food, hay rides, trick-or-treating. We met our friend Michelle and her daughter Rachel there and walked arond for a couple of hours. It was fun and the weather was absolutely fabulous. It was around 72 and breezy. It has been (relatively) cold here with lows in the 40s for the past couple of days, setting cold temp records. So it warmed up some today with highs back in the 70s.

Aren't they stunning?

Here are Kenzie, Rachel and Rebecca posing at Tradition Town Hall. Cute, huh?

Wings Done (well, almost!)

2008-10-30T22:23:00.002-04:00

Okay, so they are not quite done. But the wings are sewn and I just need to thread some wire through the seam allowances around the edge. I think that they're going to look so cool! Nothing like waiting for the last minute.

The girls don't have school tomorrow, but I have a teacher workday. This is the first scheduled workday since before school started and it is desperately needed. We only had three days before school started to get ready and one full day was taken in Kagan training. There was another day of team meetings, department meetings, attendance procedures, etc. leaving only one day to prep for the year. Crazy. . . We've had several days for professional development this year. Too many I think. I'd rather have work days to spend in my classroom creating bulletin boards, filing, cleaning my desk off! It gets messy fast because you really can't take the time to put things away properly when you're trying to teach and supervise large classes. It amazes me sometimes how many things I can do at one time. I catch myself having conversations with two or three kids at a time while pointing to another kid and tapping on a desk to redirect a lazy student all at the same time!

The girls carved their pumpkins tonight and Mike carved a coconut. Long story. . . I'll have to tell it another time. It's late, I have wings to finish, and a bed that sounds very inviting.

Skirt is Done!!

2008-10-29T22:17:00.000-04:00

Whew! Two and a half hours of ripping, cutting, sewing and fitting and Kenzie's skirt is done. It looks really, really cool. It's row after row of ripped strips of fabric. I was going for an organic type of look- - Think Puck or Titania from "Midsummer Night's Dream." I can't recall ever seeing any wood nymph costumes, so I was on my own with this one with just McKenzie's and my visions to guide us. It's after 10 or I would have made her try it all one. But tomorrow is a school day, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow. Darn.

Tomorrow night will be Wing Creation Night. Wood nymphs and golden fairies have to have wings right?

So the girls and I left school at 6 and picked up food at the Golden Chopsticks and got home around 6:30 to find a note on our door from Animal Control. Something about a call about our dog barking. Now our dog can be a pest; she licks, she jumps on you, she occasionally whines if you don't play with her. But she rarely barks, like hardly ever. Maybe if she sees a lizard, or a balloon. She has a thing about balloons. But enough for a phone call? So our back fence neighbor came over to say that she thinks that our next-door neighbor (the only folks in the neighborhood w/o dogs) called to complain about her dogs and our dog. Now the neighbor, Gloritha, has four Yorkies, and I will admit, they can be very obnoxious and yappy. But they're only out of the house for a few minutes here or there. They bark like crazy when they see Sophie and they yap and run like crazy along the fence, so I can kind of see why the neighbor would call about that. But Sophie is out for 8-10 hours per day with not a peep. Why complain about her? Of the twelve closest neighbors, eleven have dogs, so we are pretty sure it is the one family that doesn't have dogs that called to complain. I hope it doesn't go any further. I'm not really sure what options we would have. I can't fathom leaving Sophie inside all day. Or leaving her in a crate inside. Never.

Well my grading is done. Finally. I'm sure that I will have a little make-up work turned in tomorrow, but the bulk is taken care of, and progress reports are printed. Yeah! Tomorrow is an early release day set aside for professional development. Our team has a specialist coming in to talk about hearing impaired children, since one of our students has lost his hearing (from an ear infection!). It's hard to even comprehend the emotional side effects. He's a trooper and handling it very well so far.

Well, time to shower and hit the hay. Have you ever thought about actually sleeping on a straw tick? I'm very spoiled and I really love my pillowtop mattress!

Tuesday

2008-10-28T20:21:00.000-04:00

Quick update.

Kenzie went to the orthodontist today and got new wires and new bands (orange and silver). Then we went back to school so I could grade papers. I did that for two hours and the kids worked on homework. Then we met some friends for a quick meal at Bob Evans. So we got home at 8 o'clock.

Last night I did get a lot done, but never got around to working on the costumes and didn't get through all my grading. But I did get a load of laundry done so that was a bonus! McKenzie also told us that, surprise, she has a big project due on Wednesday! She has to write a 3-5 minute speech supportin John McCain and Sarah Palin and create a campaign poster. Great. Cuz we're not busy or anything. So last night she wrote the speech and now, after a quick shower, she is making the poster. For the most part, Kenzie can take care of projects on her own. I just hate how she waits until the last moment. She has had two weeks to work on this!

So back to grading (definitely one of the downsides of middle school teaching and a roster of 120 students). . . and hopefully I will not poop out before getting a little sewing done.

Monday

2008-10-27T18:22:00.001-04:00

Update on Costumes: I finished McKenzie's top. Yeah! Still need to do skirt and wings for both girls. Am I crazy or what? For some reason, I just cannot fathom buying costumes. It's become such an important tradition and I really love the creative part of it. I just wish it wasn't so time consuming!

Normal day at work. My students have been busy evaluating the validity of sources this past week, not an easy skill for eighth grade. We were comparing different biographies of Edgar Allan Poe and noting inconsistencies and then determining how we could figure out which story got it right. It is so hard to get eighth graders to think for themselves. Typically, they just want to know "what do I write in the box?" And I am trying so hard to get them on the path toward critical thinking! It's tough. For those of you who are not familiar with my position, I teach reading. I have no curriculum, meaning no textbook to teach from. I have a list of 47 essential skills to teach, but it is entirely up to me how to teach them. I like the total control but it in overwhelming to find everything on your own. It takes tons of planning and prep time.

The quarter ends on Wednesday so it's time to catch up on all the grading, etc. Of course today is when the district's server went down, so we had no access to our electronic gradebook. Ugh! Tonight I need to grade a stack of papers (and hope the server is up in the morning so I can input grades), write lesson plans for the rest of the week, create and print the schedule for student book talks, and develop the rubric for next week's in-class project (writing an obituary for Edgar Allan Poe). And oh yeah. . . finish two costumes, feed two children, and clean the kitchen. My life is crazy.