I COOKED!!!!

I know that sounds silly, but after not being able to for a while now, I'm so happy to have been able to help cook supper. Tonight I made all of us homemade veggie fried rice. So yummy!!!! And it's healthier too because I don't use much oil and no extra preservatives or stuff- just egg, brown rice, veggies, fresh chopped onion & garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce and black pepper. mmmmmmmm :)

And a sweet, cute, funny thing I heard today in my room- When I took a few steps (and I am talking just a few) with just one crutch, one of my kids saw me and told the other kids- "She's walking!!!" Then I heard the kids saying, "Mrs. Thomas, you're WALKING!!!" I turned around to see my kids clapping, cheering, and smiling from ear to ear. Kids are so funny!!!

So happy to be getting closer to "normal"- got a ways to go yet to be back to good health all the way, but I'm happy to be one day, one step closer today. And so happy for the prayers of many. Today one of my sweet girls told me that she had asked her church to pray for me. So somewhere in High Point is a Spanish-speaking Baptist church praying for a very silly, very clumsy teacher. Talk about feeling loved tonight! :)

Tonight when you pray can you pray for a little girl from my "back home" who is in desperate need of God's intervention? Her name is Marissa, and she needs a miracle from heaven.

I made my own purses! :)

When my cousins, Regina & Pam, were here, we had a lot of fun, laughed a lot, ate a bunch of good food, went to every craft store we could find in Greensboro and to Walmart so many times I lost count, and just had a wonderful, wonderful time!!!!

Regina bought me a springform pan, which I've wanted for a long time, and she made a cheesecake which we all loved. We loved it so much, in fact, that she made us a different one the next day, and then, the next thing you know, she made us one more the following day- so we got to try different flavors and compare. My kids LOVED it because I've only once or twice made cheesecakes since I didn't really have a good pan for it. It was like a cheesecake of the day club. :)

Pam taught us how to make bags/baskets and got me sort of out of my creative slump- or on the road back to being creative. After making one while Pam was here, and one after she went home, I got braver and have tried to make the bag with handles. I did it, and it turned out pretty good, so I tried again and have made myself my very own teacher purse/bag. :) So cool!!!!

Here they are:

I know you're going to think it's silly, but I keep looking at them thinking, "Hey, I did that! I actually made my own purse! Who'd of thunk it?!?" :)

I love the colors of this one! Blues are my favorite colors, and these prints just jumped out at me at Walmart! Then I found the lining fabric at JoAnne's another day & I was so happy with how well it went with the quilted part!

And now, my very own teacher bag. I am sooooo excited!!!!! I can carry this with me to my work retreat this weekend. When I get uptight, bored, frustrated, or whatever else, I can look at my purse and think happy thoughts. :) hahahahahahaha

Now that I think about it though, Pam & Regina did all that, and I didn't do anything but eat, laugh, and learn. I always was a deadbeat! :) I definitely owe them something for sure. :)

Not that they will see this, but Regina Baldwin & Pam Brown, I LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

Rebekah :)

My Guys

Last night Rob had gone out for a bike ride and when he came back in, he was clearly in distress, but was having trouble telling us what was going on- he was obviously being attacked/bitten by something but we couldn't see what was going on. He was just standing in our kitchen, twitching and saying, "Oh!" Robert & I were trying to figure out what was going when finally Rob made it to the bathroom and the dog started tangling with a wasp/bee in the kitchen that followed Rob into the house and was chasing him into the bathroom. Rob got his clothes off and there were two more still on him, stinging him. Robert ran and got him Benadryl, and Rob is okay, but he has been hurting from the stings. He says he got stung four times, but I think he had more on his back. So thankful to God he is okay!!!!

Robert has had a horrible case of poison crud (I don't know if it's ivy, oak, sumac or something else- he's done this before and is VERY allergic to something out there). He is starting to heal from that, but is still really, really broken out all over his legs, stomach... Then Sunday while working he thought he got into more and came home breaking out in new places and was miserable. He showed me, but it looked different, and I wasn't sure. Yesterday he showed me again, and it was clearly spreading, but it was really odd- his hands have developed thick callouses from his work and whatever this is has spread under the callouses and not on top of his skin. He woke me up early this morning in great pain from this and asked me to pray. After we prayed, I looked at him closely, and whatever this is has spread on tops & bottoms of his hands and arms up to his elbows and he has it on his legs (around/on top of the poison crud he already has). I recommended he go to Primecare and be there when they open so he could get seen before he had to work today and maybe make sure he is self-treating it correctly. He called me later, and he definitely has poison crud but the new stuff is chemical burns from industrial cleaners he was using at work. Poor guy!!! They gave him steroids and some other drug to take.

I teased Matthew to look out. It clearly is not a good time for the Thomas men in our house. :)

Today Barbara & I went to Kristen's house and hung out with Kristen & Erin (gals I used to work with who have moved on to other schools). Kristen has the SWEETEST little two year old girl, Elizabeth. She was such a ham- she counted to ten, followed by "Here I come!" She sang songs for us, and was HYSTERICAL when she rolled her eyes at her Mom's request- best eye-roller I've ever seen! We laughed and cut up and shared "war stories" about school. I am always nervous when I get together with people (even my family for some weird reason), but once we got there I was perfectly at ease and fine and had a nice time. I forgot how they just take me for who I am and are okay with this Rebekah.

I came home and fixed a new recipe for supper. It was good- Gazpacho Salad- it was cooked cheese tortellini laid on a bed of lettuce, topped with chopped tomatoes, cucumber & red onion, drizzled with a homemade vinaigrette and topped with croutons. It was done in no time too! Plus more sweet watermelon, and Robert brought home cookies & milk. :) I've done some crafting and am going to call it a night now.

Cooking Chicken- exciting stuff I know

Okay, I know I'm silly. Who else posts pictures of bags of chopped, cooked chicken & pitchers of chicken broth? :) Me- I'm weird, I know.

I promise I had a reason. :) See, we've been trying to be healthier, and I just wonder about all the stuff we use to preserve our foods, so when I can I am trying to avoid processed, precooked, packaged/canned food. I am NOT a health-nut, but am just trying to be more conscious about what we eat. Plus, I am hoping to stretch out our food dollars. I never buy canned chicken; when a recipe calls for it, I cook up my own chicken. But I usually only buy boneless/skinless chicken breasts, and that is expensive to use. I thought I'd try to do this in a more economical way. So today I hit the 5 for $20 that Save-a-Lot does and got five big packages of chicken legs and thighs, came home and filled my stock pot and cooked it all up. It took two rounds of cooking to get it all cooked. I got it all de-boned (Samson LOVED getting some bones!!!) and chopped up. I even used Robert's mini food processor and made a nice bowl of shredded chicken for Rob to make his yummy chicken salad. I have three BIG bags of chopped chicken ready to use, plus over a gallon of strained broth. Matthew helped me work on straining the fat out. I'm going to freeze that up in small portions too.

It was a lot of work, but I think it will save us money and hopefully be healthier- no salt, no preservatives, no chemicals, no corn syrup (Barbara was stunned today as we shopped at how many items have that in it). Matthew and Rob were standing there waiting for me to shred up the chicken tonight, so it must have smelled good. :)

Asparagus

Oh, asparagus, I owe you my sincerest apologies. When I was a child, I used to go with my momma to Bohn's farm where she would get fresh asparagus. I remember how much she liked it. I remember how she always made us eat our food and wanted us to not be picky, but oh, how I hated asparagus. I never liked it as a child, and hadn't eaten it in years since I left home.

Then my oldest son made some for us a couple years ago, and oh how good it was. I have been eating it since and each time I wonder, What in the world was I thinking? Why didn't I like it? What in the world was wrong with me? All these years I missed out on this yummy and healthy food! I must have been a brat or something to turn up my nose at you, lovely asparagus! Please forgive me!!!

Rebekah :)

(photo from: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001087034)

Sunday, Sunday

Spring is making its appearance it seems, and I hope it is here to stay. The weather is getting warmer, the daylight longer, the buds on trees in our neighborhood are starting to appear, and we are hearing more and more birds singing in the morning and evening. So nice!!!

Only three and one half months to survive. I can do all things through Christ. repeat. times. one hundred. :)

My mind has started its yearly "things I want to do differently next year" list, except it keeps saying, "Where will I be next year?" which makes it more difficult. But, learning is good, and I'm trying to not beat myself up too much for not having a perfect first year in this new grade. I just see so many mistakes and things I did that could have been better, or things I did not know and wish I had....

My :) List:

• Calling my Momma yesterday and having a nice LONG talk! :) :) :)
• I love laughing and making people laugh. I made Momma and myself laugh hysterically and that felt soooo good! BBB, Momma! ;)
• I went to bed early last night (well, early for me- 10 PM, and though I couldn't get to sleep right away, it was nice to be there relaxing and listening to my hubby snoring :) and just finally drifting off to sleep).
• Mandy (my pal from work) called us Friday night and invited Rob & I to join her and her parents at a nearby restaurant. That was so nice of them to include us and we enjoyed some being with some pretty nice people!
• Spring- my hyacinth is peeking out of the ground; can't wait to see the daffodils soon. :)
• Daylight- it is so much easier to get out of bed with a little light then in the dark (and it is already such a struggle to get out of bed to go to "that place" so that really does help!)
• Warm chocolate chip/nut cookies made for Robert (a belated birthday treat)- I only ate one too- yeah me!!!
• One more month in the year of hell about to be over! THANK YOU GOD for helping me get through it all!
• Zoe is the prettiest niece an aunt could ever see- I find myself telling her photo hello and good night every day, and sometimes when I can't focus on work or college work, I just stare at her picture on my laptop. :) I can't wait to meet her!!!
• Walking with Rob & Matthew and Samson this afternoon, and the last little bit we walked in a warm, gentle rain- so neat!
• Rob & I went shoe shopping together and found walking shoes on sale! :)
• most of all, God loves me- even me!

Happy Birthdays begin again

This is the birthday week at our home! Rob's was last Friday. He & I headed off on a little weekend adventure so we didn't do his traditional birthday dinner then. We are having that tonight; he always asks for my homemade lasagna. :) Kind of predictable, but you don't hear me complaining. Barbara helped me get prepare my giant pan full of lasagna and in a little bit we'll be munching away on that and salad, homemade bread, and fresh fruit.

Tomorrow is our daughter's 20th birthday!!! Who can believe that much time has gone by since she was born?!?!?! Happy Birthday Barbara Rose! Your family loves you very, very much!! We are so proud of the young woman you have become and who are you learning to be!!!!!

Sunday will be Robert's 21st birthday. Once again, WOW!!!! How did these tiny babes I brought home get to be so old, and Robert now a legal adult!?!?! This young man texted me today to ask me if lamb and asparagus sounded good. He showed up at my school with freshly cooked (by him) lamb chops, roasted veggies, and steamed fresh asparagus. OH. MY. WORD. Can I say DELICIOUS???????????????? I have never eaten lamb before; it was yummy! This young man can sure cook! He went out and bought the food, went home and cooked it, and then brought it to school and even brought plates from home, silverware and everything, sat with me at my table and with my kids and ate lunch with me. SO SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so thankful for this family of mine! Thank you God for these blessings!

hodgpodge

Heard today in my room:

C: Mrs. Thomas, are you perfect?

Me: No I am not! No one is perfect except for God of course.

J: Mrs. Thomas, you are too perfect!

Me: Really, J, I promise you that no human being is perfect. We all make mistakes and do things we shouldn't.

J: Mrs. Thomas, don't say that. You are perfect for me! :)

Awww, J doesn't know how much this touched me. He is quite a challenging friend many days, but together we are working hard, and he is growing up. I am NOT perfect, but I can live with "perfect for him." :)

On the family back home front- My mother-in-law lives in St. Louis which was forecast (according to the Weather Channel) to get an inch of ice! And my parents & sister & brother-in-law are supposed to get 18" of snow. This sure has been a big storm winter so far, and this one will definitely go in the record books. Rob talked to his mom a little bit ago, and she is safe inside her apartment. My momma is home from work and said everything is shut down for tomorrow so unless Baby M decides to make an appearance, they'll all be safe inside and staying put.

We're about to eat dinner- fried chicken, Rob's DIVINE mashed potatoes, salad, and peas. Then I'm hitting the streets before I start trying to put together this research paper. I need to pay the bills and get my February menu together since it is February.

Wonder what the groundhog will see tomorrow. :)

Things that made me smile today

• I introduced fractions to my class today. I have never taught fractions at this higher level before, so I was/am nervous! :) I brought fruit to class and after we made bubble maps of the word "fraction" (a sort of pre-assessment for me), and after I introduced some vocabulary, the kids & I cut up fruit into fractions. They each got to "order" their fraction fruit using the correct vocabulary. OH MY WORD!!!!! This was a HUGE hit!!!!! You'd have thought I brought gold or Christmas toys, they were so excited about fruit. I have many kids that I know for sure/or have strong suspicions don't always get to eat at home and this just confirmed it for me. I think I'll start bringing a bag of fruit a couple times a month. And several kids kept asking me, "Where did you buy this fruit, Mrs. T.? I'm going to ask my mom/dad to go there and buy this!" Like they'd never seen it before!
• One of my girls just tickled me how much she loved the little fresh mandarin oranges after she'd finally got brave enough to try one. She kept coming up and asking me, "Can I have 3/10 please?" "4/10?" "9/10?" :) She'd have eaten all my oranges if I let her!!!! Then it finally dawned on her, "Mrs. Thomas, are these the ones you wanted me to try last week at lunch?" :)
• Eating at our favorite Mexican restaurant tonight with Rob, Matthew, Barbara, and one of my self-claimed daughters, Rita. I LOVE that young lady, and was so happy when I got home and she was there! So since it was payday, and we had survived to the day (thank you God!), we took everyone out for supper. YUMMO! I couldn't finish my plate (a good sign!!!) so Matthew helped me finish my meal.
• Getting almost all my papers from last week graded- about 1/3 the stack remains, but it will have to keep for another night!

I'm off of here to email, check facebook and get ready for work tomorrow and head to sleep. Hope you are all having a great start to the week. Thinking of my family back home and hoping they stay warm and safe in the blizzard! Wishing I could be snowed in with you.

Love,
Rebekah :)

busy, busy, busy

Tomorrow is an all-day meeting for the third grade team; not sounding like it will be a great day, but I'm going to try to get through it as best I can.

After school today I:

• dealt with a continuing tech issue that has been a major problem all year- a Palm Pilot I'm supposed to have to do assessments, but have had a broken one. I finally got one today and had to have a little help to get it connected to the software, but it's FINALLY up & running, and on Friday I can start trying to catch up to my teammates and get these tests done!
• picked up Barbara at the Y where she has her swimming course (next to the community college) & headed off to Wally-world.
• ate Matthew's yummy stir-fry/rice dinner! THANK YOU Matthew for cooking dinner for us! :)
• made a big bowl of pasta salad to take to our meeting tomorrow & then my boys helped me make a big bowl of pico de gallo as someone asked me to make that too. I LOVE cooking with my boys!!!!
• went for a walk with my hubby! :) It's a cool, rainy evening and I'm tired, but we made it. :) I LOVE my husband!!!! He is my best friend, and the one who really "gets it" with me. I'm so thankful for you, Rob, not that you'll ever see this. :)

Now I've got paperwork to do for school, and then I'm going to try to put off the rest of my to-do list for another day and head to bed. Grad school will hopefully keep for another night. Yikes!!! I've got to be up early so I can get everything ready for the sub, and get all my food into the meeting place and get my paperwork and self ready for our meeting. I kind of feel like I'm going into the fiery furnace, but that's probably a little melodramatic. :) :) :)

My list for today:

1. I walked just over 2 miles today at work alone!!!! WOW!!!! By the time I hit the sack tonight I'll have over 4 miles on my pedometer!!!! :) :) :)
2. I must be a good mom. I see my kids and their love for me & how concerned they are for me, how they want to come to my defense. It's sweet and really touches me!!! I did something right in raising them because they are really, TRULY wonderful young adults!!!
3. I had a better attitude today and didn't get too angry today. Momma & I were sort of talking through FB last night about this, and that anger isn't bad, but I always feel horribly, HORRIBLY guilty when I get mad. Working on this though.
4. I made one of my boys laugh at lunch today when he saw me humming a song and dancing around with another student. :) I think he was surprised to see his teacher like that. Someone asked him, "What, you didn't know Mrs. Thomas was cool?" He shook his head and grinned. :)

Paperwork is calling me. Pray for our team tomorrow. It promises to be quite an "interesting" day.

Rebekah :)

Oh lovely :)

Last night I actually SLEPT all night (about 7 hours) and woke up with very little back pain!!!! It was more wonderful than I can say!!!!!!!! I can't honestly remember when I've done that it's been so very long. THANK YOU GOD!!!!!!!!!!!

We went to the first church service, and after church, drove the two walking routes I'm trying to use to measure their approximate distance (much further than I had thought!), went to get a soda, and came home to fix lunch. Lunch was yummy- broccoli cheese soup, wraps, and I had fresh blackberries- my favorite! I did a couple things I needed to do for grad school, and I have taken a lovely nap- another thing I don't get to do often thanks to insomnia and a busy life. I have a lot to do, but I have just sat here vegging out a bit and enjoying this fire Rob started- so peaceful to watch. :)

I'm going to work on report cards next and try to get them as close to done as I can today.

This weekend's list-

• I went for a walk with Rob yesterday between my grocery run and the funeral, and Rob, Barbara, Matthew and I walked again today (and now know exactly how far I am walking)- it is getting a little easier this week so yeah! :)
• I did NOTHING Friday night- no lesson plans, no grading papers, no college, nothing!, and I took a nap today- hey, I could get used to this. :) I know this sounds silly or maybe lazy or self-centered to people who don't know me, but if you know me, you'll know this is rare for me.
• I was in a funky mood (stress, truly sick of work, one of my "I hate me" moods, plus the funeral) but I went out anyway with my daughter and a coworker to get some dinner and buy a baby shower gift for another coworker. That was fun. I loved my Greek salad. Thanks Barbara for buying the dinner! :) Thanks to B & my coworker for putting up with me when I was moody & tired and still loving me in spite of it. Not too many coworkers do that for you. :) Not all moms get daughters that will love you as much as mine does! I know that and am thankful!
• I went to church today. God is good and still loves me and spoke to me.
• Matthew and cooked tonight after our walk- the yummy veggie pasta salad. With Greek dressing and a little feta cheese on top. Oh. my. word. Soooo good!

I better quit being a bum now, and get to work. Think I'll take another walk first. :) This could become habit-forming, and I pray it does. :) That's my goal anyway. :)

Finally!

Well after four days of "inclement weather" days, we are finally going back to school tomorrow on a late start! A coworker asked me today, "How's your spring break?" hahaha I have to admit, I'll be crying later when we make these days up, but it sure has been nice being all together the five of us- sleeping in, movies, games, pajama days, vegg-ing out! As for school, I sure hope my kids are the wonderful group that came back from Christmas break! :)

Rob & I started a crock pot of chili this morning, and he drove me to school before going on to his school. We worked a half day, and then he came and picked me up. He wanted to make sure I could get into the building safely and not slip on any ice as we'd heard that the parking lot was awful yesterday. He's a good guy and after all these years still loves me and looks out for me! Think I'll keep him around for another 20+ years. :) We came home, went for a short walk up in the school's lot where there was no ice, and then came home & took a short hour nap (I can't do that very often; it was so nice to snuggle up in a dark, cold room under all the blankets!)

I got very, VERY stressed tonight after reading an email and just felt this overwhelming impression (God's voice) that I should get up & pray. So I called my Momma and asked her to pray in agreement with me, and just began to tell God everything He's already heard from me over & over, but I did it anyway. THANK YOU Momma for praying with me and listening to me and talking with me afterwards!

I have my lesson plans rearranged for tomorrow, and I'm going to make a recording sheet for tomorrow's capacity exploration. Then I'm going to go to bed and try to sleep!

My "list" for today:

• I know I am nothing without Jesus & His love.
• I still hear His voice which means I am not lost. (I know, Momma, I know!)
• I made some coworkers laugh today. I like making people laugh. :)
• Rob & I made a good pot of chili today! YUM YUM YUM!
• I took care of me today- I took a short walk today before the ice started forming again! I took a nap today! And I am going to shut this off and head to bed soon.

Please pray for the family & friends of one of Rob's fellow teachers. She died this week while receiving her first chemo treatment. She leaves behind one young adult son and I'm sure many others who loved her. This is the second teacher we've known who has died in the past month.

Christmas photos

So these pictures are not necessarily in any particular order, but I wanted to share some photos for our family back home.

We had a wonderful Christmas! I told my family all month long, that since this was looking like it would be our last Christmas all together for a while perhaps (Matthew is enlisting in the Army upon graduation in June), ALL I wanted was to have a good Christmas with my family and to make lots of good memories. We did, and God even sent down a little snow on Christmas- a white Christmas in NC!!!!! Wow!

We all worked together to cook a nice meal. Rob was getting the duck ready to roast. We have never had duck before, so we were excited but nervous. Turned out delicious!!! It was nice all working together to cook.

Even Samson "supervised" as we worked. :)

While our duck roasted, we vegged in various places. Barbara did some reading. I know I'm her momma and all, but she is just a beautiful young lady! How did the little girl we had grow up into this young woman??? For that matter, how did I get old enough to have this young lady?

I don't know if this house will ever get "old" to me, and honestly, I pray that the gratitude and appreciation for having a home of our own NEVER wears off! It took us so long to be able to buy a house, and even now, approaching two years later, I still have to remind myself that we don't rent anymore, that we have a place that is ours, that this pretty home is really ours! I actually own and live in a nice place- nothing fancy or big- but JUST right for us!

See that snowman up there by the fireplace, on the right? Robert got me that for Christmas! I LOVE it!!!!

After we had exchanged gifts with each other- we gave Samson a small bone treat for Christmas. We gave Cinnamon (our cat) a catnip mouse toy, but he was too drugged and hyper playing with it to get a photo. :)

Rob read us the story of Jesus' birth and led us in prayer.

Robert seemed really surprised when he opened up this gift and saw the binoculars he'd been hoping to buy himself. :)

Barbara gave me slippers which I had been wanting badly since mine died on our camping trip in October. :)

I know I'm partial, but I think Matthew has the BEST smile! This is the shirt his sister gave him, and he loved it. He was laughing himself silly at what it said- "I suffer from cruel and unusual employment."

And these two are peas in a pod- we've often referred to them as "the twins"- they are alike in many ways, except that one is more vocal and loud in expressing herself, and one is a VERY tall. :)

One of the things that was so nice to see this year was my kids getting into giving to each other without our coaching/coaxing. This year they all have jobs, and they were excited to buy for each other and there were lots of conversations about what they wanted to do for each other or "hmmm, I wonder what___ would like..." And they were generous with each other too! So nice to see as their mom!!! Made me feel proud of them to not just think of themselves and what they want for Christmas!

Rob and I had a fun game of Super Scrabble on Christmas Eve while two of the kids were working. I won, and he was a good sport. :)

Baking Busy-ness

I made it through the two hectic days of school to have two hectic days of baking. My kids and Rob helped me some too. :) We made lots of yummy treats to give away to neighbors, some restaurant workers, and a couple of the kids' friends' families.

So Rachael shared these DELICIOUS photos and recipes of Mounds candy. OH MY WORD, they looked good. I tried them and they are as good/better than they look!!!! Barbara and I made them- I rolled the balls and she added pecans.

Our table was covered in them! :)

Matthew helped me with melting the chocolate and dipping all those balls of coconut goodness.

Then the rest of the family got in on the action.

Rob even tried to dip some other things in the chocolate. :)

Rach, they are SOOOOOOOOOOOO good! Thank you for sharing the recipe. I love them!

These go by other names, but in our house, I've called them "snowball" cookies for years. Here they are on the pan ready to bake and then finished below. Probably my favorite cookie!

Who can forget pumpkin??? Pumpkin breads for neighbors and Trang's family and Rita's family. Plus a loaf or two for our Christmas morning brunch.

And my ever favorite dessert in the whole world- pumpkin pie! And, look Momma, these turned out pretty! :) No lopsided pie this time. :) hahaha

40 :)

Today I turned 40. It was a very nice day.

Last night, Rob started bugging me to get in bed saying, "The 39 year old doesn't have much time left to sleep; you really need to get her in bed!" And as I was getting into bed, I checked FB and my sister left me a funny math-themed message to wish me happy b'day.

Today started with my hubby teasing me and calling me "old" as I got ready for work. :)

Wore one of my new blouses that my Momma & Pop got me for my birthday while they were here last week. I felt so pretty! And all day I thought of my parents' love (all three of them).

When I got to work, I found the nicest surprise on my desk. Alma (one of our custodians) had left me a hand-made necklace and pair of earrings for me with a note that said, "Feliz Cumpleanos Mrs. Thomas." :) How sweet!!!!!!!!!!! And so pretty, can't wait to wear them!

Got TONS and TONS of love from kids at school who had figured out or heard that today was my special day. :) One of my team-teaching buddies had all her students write me letters, so throughout the day I received hand-made cards from a lot of kids not to mention the hugs that came with them. I took cookies to share with my reading class and my third grade class and my third grade team and my two team-teaching buddies. The kids loved that of course!

My third graders were so cute- one of them started the idea to give me a b'day hug and while hugging me, stick a post-it note on my back announcing it was my b'day. They were doing this because I had said I wouldn't tell any of the adults at school it was my birthday, that it wasn't a big deal. Guess they were worried about that because I had so many post-its on me at one point or another, though they kept falling off this blouse I was wearing- it wasn't Post-it friendly I guess. ;) But, I thought it was sweet of the kids anyway. I just played dumb and pretended I didn't know what they were doing, and that was even funnier/cuter to watch them! hahaha

After school, I went back to the DOT to get my new license as the old one expired today (long story, but I went yesterday and had to go back today). Got my license! :) Then home to my silly family. My kids asked off of work/got off of work so they could be home with me today. :) That meant more to me than they know! When I came home, I found on the door signs Rob had made that said "The old bat is 40!" :) :) :) He had them taped to the glass on the storm door. Too funny! Rob got me a book - the next one written by Greg Mortenson. Waaay excited to read that hopefully sooner than later.

We went out to Rio Grande, our favorite Mexican restaurant. Rob just happened to "mention" it was my birthday and as we were getting up to leave, the owners and waitress came over, planted a sombrero on my head and sang to me and brought me a yummy dessert with a candle! :) LOVE that place and those people! They are great!

We went and got our Christmas tree and a pretty greenery wreath for the door. It will have to wait until Saturday to get decorated, but right now my house spells so good. LOVE this time of year!!!!!!!

Got the bills paid; thank you Father for $ to pay the bills! I started using online bill-pay from our bank a couple months ago, and I love it! So much easier- wish I'd done it long ago!

I still have two assignments due on the weekend not started yet, a HUGE-MONGOUS pile of papers to grade & record in the grade book, lesson plans to be done, materials to be found and created for learning stations next week, and interim reports to write, but my sleepy 40 year old self is going to call it a night! Tomorrow I will have to pull off a miracle and do my lesson plans and grad school assignments by Saturday morning- yikes! :)

Love to you all!

Sunny Sunday

For the first time in a very long time (and I'm so not proud of this, but being totally honest) I was actually wanting to go to church. I don't know why I've been struggling with it so much again lately, but I have. Today I was up and ready to go and happy to be there. The sermon was, well, just for me. It was about Jesus and the disciples on the boat in the storm. Yeah, perfect timing. I didn't get any answers and I doubt God is going to let me out of this one, but it is comforting to know that He knows where I am and that He will help me get through the storm. I just sat there crying and asked Him to let the storm pass as quickly as possible and not let me drown in the waves. And, God, whatever it is that I am needing to learn, please help me to get it and pass this test.

My lesson plans were done last night! :) :) :) For those who don't live with me, you might not know how big this is. Believe me it is BIG! This school year I have been working all day on Sundays to come up with my lesson plans, find and/or create learning materials for the week, and differentiate all my lessons and learning stations for my kids' many needs. Thanks to a killer work session on Friday afternoon/evening with a colleague, and her kindness in sharing without my asking, I was able to tackle that job last night. :) :) :) Hopefully I helped her as much as she helped me. I was able to have grad class yesterday, get groceries, cook a Mexican meatball/veggie soup for supper, and then tackle lesson plans - all on Saturday! :)

So today, I took a thirty minute nap and have been cutting paper and card stock and working on cards. I cooked my favorite pasta salad (Fiesta Pasta Salad) tonight too. :)

For the rest of tonight, I am going to grade this huge stack of papers that has been staring at me and work on these cards I started, and head to bed early if I can. Only eight days until my parents will be headed to NC, and to say I am excited- well that would be the understatement of the century!

Have a great week!

garden goodness

We planted a small garden in the yard this year hoping to get some food to help our summer budget. We are amateurs for sure, and we didn't have a tiller so there's a bit more grass in the plot than we'd like but we will keep working on it & learning. I hope to freeze up some vegies later this summer. The food is starting to come in. Thank you God for fresh vegies grown by our hands and blessed by You!

our second picking of green beans

The tomatoes are coming in; soon we'll have a bunch. I can taste pico de gallo already! :)

grape tomatoes for our salads

romas for pico & homemade spaghetti sauce that Robert is going to cook for me :)

the "big boys" for just eating- I plan to eat a bunch & fry some green ones up too; it's making my mouth water just thinking of their juicy, yummy goodness.

my prairie flower to remind me of home- Echinacia- Oh how I miss home!

Our yellow squash & zucchini are blooming like crazy!

peaches!!!

My poor little peach tree is so full, I am not sure the branches can hold it all. We keep thinning them out so the tree doesn't fall over, but I hate to pitch the peaches... Hoping they are edible. :) Going to make a peach cobbler if they are good and plan to sit outside and eat some fresh ones too.

Welcome Spring 2010!!!

Happy 1st Day of Spring everyone! My condolences to my momma who is getting snow on her first day of spring. :) I can't send you real flowers right now Momma, so I'm "sending" you these to make you think of spring until the real one gets to you there in the cold north. :) I took this photo a couple springs ago and thought you might like it.
It's been a busy but good day. I had my Saturday grad class today (ugh!). The weather was absolutely GORGEOUS today! Last night I came home from school and put together two dishes of lasagna and put them away for today. Rob took care of making some bread and a salad and put the lasagna in the oven for us. When lunch break came, three classmates came home with me and we ate on our lunch out on the deck. It was so nice and so hard to go back to class after that. :) The afternoon crept by so very slowly!

Rob had to take Matthew to K'ville for a study group at 2:00, come back to G'boro to drop Barbara off at work at 3:00, and go back to K'ville to pick Matthew up at 4:00. I got out of class and my after class study group in time to spend a few minutes with Robert who practiced driving himself to work. Then I came home, pruned the artemesia in our flower beds, pruned my peach tree, did a little (very little) raking and cleaning out the leaves, sat on the deck with my feet propped up and began working on the next round of grad assignments, readings, and projects. I sat there working and thanking God, once again, for the blessings He has given me and for the wonderful blessing this house is to us. I don't know how He did it or why, but I know there could not be anyone more grateful than I am to Him for this home He gave us!!! Even now after a year of living here, it seems just almost too-good-to-be-true at times!

So now I'm off to do something, I don't know what. I'm so tired and might just relax a bit tonight before working like a mad-woman. Who knows with me, I like to live dangerously like that. ;) hahahahaha

just nothing much but hello :)

it's been a beautiful, late winter day and a crazy busy one like they usually are at our house these days. :) so thankful i have a family that keeps me busy and helps me feel so loved and fulfilled. i know this is such a blessing from God!!! i was reminded of His love and blessings to me today as i spent time talking with our daughter about her life and desires. oh how life has flown. it seems like not all that long ago my own momma was having to have these talks with me.

today looked like this:

• get up, start a pot of white chili, get ready for grad class (thanks to my great hubby for fixing me a yummy homemade scrambled egg breakfast bowl :) YUM YUM!)
• class, brought home some classmates/coworkers for lunch and back to class
• grocery run and great talk with my daughter before i dropped her off at work
• dinner (yummy leftovers of lunch) and working on downloading all the materials and readings i need to do my next batch of gradwork (all i'm going to say there is OH MY WORD!!!!!!!!!!!! if i thought it was bad last month, it is NOTHING compared to the workload for the next three weeks!!!)
• watching a little ice skating and skiing at the Olympics- i love the winter olympics!!!!
• i ordered a personalized business stamp for my card making business

So tomorrow I have to:

1. go to church & Truth Project bible study
2. read through my lesson plans and finalize my lesson for the first observation by the bright ideas coach. i am not sure when but one of the "big whigs" will be observing me soon as well and i hope i pass that test- that's a whole 'nother blog, but i'm kind of scared to write about what's going on at work (big brother is watching i'm pretty sure) :) :) :) let's just say things at work continue to worsen and get more intense and pressure-filled. the joys of working at a "low performing school."
3. finish three card sets- one for a personalized order and two sets i'm making for free - one for our church's ladies retreat & one for a high school classmate's church's silent auction
4. read, read, read & write, write, write. going to try to get this one HUGE assignment finished and submitted as early in the week as possible.
5. interims were due thursday and i still haven't gotten them done... YIKES!!!!
6. is that all??? i have no idea...

hope you all have a great week!!! take care of yourselves!!! (we might get a big snow, but then again we might not)... :)

love,

bekaboo :)

Happy Saturday

yeah, it's saturday! :) i started the day fixing the family a big breakfast/brunchy feast complete with bacon/sausage, some chorizo, potatoes, eggs, and pancakes for those who wanted them. we don't do that very often because it's not healthy of course, but it was a yummy treat! :) we've been jammin' to tom petty & the heartbreakers this morning too. i LOVE when we just have music playing through the house!!!! i've facebooked and emailed back and forth with my momma so now it's time to get to some serious work on grad school assignments and readings. ugh!!! so without further ado i'm off to read, read, read, write, write, write, and start completing this HUGE geometry assignment plus find/create a triangles task to turn in, comment on the readings on the forum. then do my lesson plans and prepare for 100th day!!!

happy saturday all!