Sunday, May 31, 2009

Gettin' Crafty...

I really like to make gifts (well, I really like to buy gifts, too), especially for baby showers. The making of the gift gives me time to think about and pray for the baby and family, and gives me time to muse about having a family of my own some day. One of my sweet work friends is having a little girl soon and her shower is on Tuesday. She really liked the name wall-hangers that I made for another shower, so I made a set for her and added a hair bow hanger (which is, um, just a ribbon). I decided to try my hand at making hair bows to put on the hanger, and it turned out to be a lot of fun! I did not try anything fancy, but found some simple, cute bows to make with ribbon and a glue gun - fun! I have found that the more and more I craft/sew/knit, the more relaxed I become about the products - they don't have to be perfect! The little imperfections just add to the charm of handmade gifts...at least, that's what I'm sticking with!




So, if you have a shower to attend or a gift to give, try getting crafty (and share your creations)! And please pray for sweet Isabella (Isa) and her mom Victoria - she's a first grade teacher and is plugging right along, but due June 16th!
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Saturday, May 30, 2009

Finally uploading some pictures from one camera...still can't find the cord to the other.


On a recent trip, Will passed through Maine. And he showed up on our doorstep with this:


And these guys were inside, still wriggling:


So we got together with some friends, and had a little lobster fest:


There was some debate about the best way to get to all the meat...


...and the hammer seemed to be the best tool for the job.


The fruits of their labor (I was too busy chasing around the most adorable 2-year-old to help out much):
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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The low down...

-Camping was a blast. It helped that we had the most perfect weather. We bought a new tent a while back at COSTCO - it didn't look all that big in the giant warehouse, but it's huge! It is perfect, though, for all of our stuff and our dogs. Now we need a better air mattress, or maybe we each need our own twin-sized air mattresses. We'll see. We're hoping to camp more this summer.
-It seems we're still moving at warp speed around here. Will's traveling all the time, I'm working all the time, and I'm trying to balance my current job with my future job, which is proving to be very difficult. I'm excited about what I'll be teaching next year, and I'm ready to plan, plan, plan! But, we still have 18 days of school left in this year, which is where my focus needs to be.
-I'm hoping to head to Oregon this weekend to see an old friend. It's been far too long. She now has two kids. We've lived about 4 hours apart for almost three years now...it's time to get together!
-This summer is going to be a blast. We've already planned a Vegas trip (happy anniversary to us!) and we're going to head down to Will's 10-year high school reunion. Somewhere in there I'm taking a trip to meet Mr. Ian Brown and see my sweet niece Hannah.
-My to-do list is getting longer and longer, and I don't even know where to start. I want to organize all of my craft stuff so that I can find things easily when I get the itch to be creative. Hopefully I'll make some progress this week! ...Time to get started!
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Friday, May 22, 2009

Field trip today. Golf after work. Camping this weekend.

Life is good. Happy Memorial Day weekend!
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Wednesday, May 20, 2009


A while back, my s-i-l tagged me to complete this - the list of 8's. And since I'm trying to avoid doing the piles of laundry that are upstairs, here goes!


The rules are:
1. Mention the person that tagged you.
2. Complete the lists of 8's.
3. Tag 8 other bloggers.
4. Tell them that they have been tagged.


8 Things I Look Forward To

1. Summer Break!

2. Spending time with my husband.

3. Getting to see far-away family.

4. Watching my sweet nieces grow up (although one is nearly grown!)

5. Cooking up new ideas for vacations.

6. Bubble baths.

7. Meeting Ian Adam Brown (congrats Adam and Erica)

8. Camping this weekend!



8 Things I Did Yesterday

1. Drank my coffee black.

2. Wore a skirt, and froze.

3. Focused too much on my next year's job rather than my current job.

4. Went to the Talent Show at school.

5. Participated in a skit in said talent show.

6. Went to Chili Thai afterwards with Will.

7. Ordered Rama Tofu with Peanut Sauce (served over spinach) - yum!

8. Got in bed at 9:30 and read until I fell asleep.



8 Things I Wish I Could Do

1. Sing.

2. Spend more time with Will.

3. Spend more time with family.

4. Take beautiful pictures and edit them (and have the money to buy the right stuff to do both).

5. Spend time on creative endeavors.

6. Have a maid. Who comes every day. So I'd never have to clean.

7. Hug sweet Hannah. Every day.

8. Run. Far.



8 Shows I Watch

1. Bones

2. House

3. CSI

4. CSI: NY

5. NCIS

6. Jeopardy!

7. Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations

8. The Mentalist



8 Bloggers That I Tagged


Okay, I'm skipping this because I don't know anyone else who would want to...But please, if you want to, go for it!
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Monday, May 18, 2009

Biggest Loser, Bloggin' Style...

Here's a recipe that I find delicious and satisfying, and it's healthy! I have made this the last few times that Will's been out of town (it's not really a man meal) and it's great reheated.

Refried Bean Soup (my mom gave me this recipe - she got it at a WW meeting years back)

1 can Rotel (I prefer the lime/cilantro)
1 can fat free refried beans (I like refried black beans)
2 cans chicken stock (low sodium)

Open cans. Dump in a pot. Cook until combined and hot. Serve with a dallop of low fat sour cream (I don't really like the fat free kind, it tastes funny to me) and low fat shredded cheese. Delish!

For those not on a commitment to health challenge (or, um, a diet), you can add shredded chicken, a can of corn, and serve with tortilla chips!
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Thursday, May 14, 2009

We have bad habits in our house. We let dishes pile up. We let laundry pile up. We let mail pile up. And then we play catch-up.

A little over a week ago, I was taking care of the recycling that we had let pile up in the house. We have a bin inside where we put all of our recyclables, but it's small and fills up fast. I still hadn't broken down all of the boxes, so it didn't all fit in the bin and was stacked up around it and in brown paper bags. It was quite the accumulation. I decided to prop the door open, go out through the garage, and make the several trips in and out until it was all in the recycling container outside. In the middle of this process, my neighbor stopped by. We were chatting, when all of a sudden, a bird flew in the garage, then through the open door and straight into my kitchen.

After getting over the shock of the bird being in the house, and realizing I did not want to have try to catch it with my bare hands, but didn't want to hurt it either, my neighbor's husband wandered over. Thankfully, he was willing (and able) to catch the bird and release it back outside where it belonged.





Nothing like a bird in the house to liven up my chores.

*Note the dishes piled up in the sink. I did eventually take care of those, too.

**Also note that while I did not offer help, I did get photographic evidence of the situation as any good blogger would do.
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Monday, May 11, 2009

Quick Cruise Recap...

Muster Drill


Enjoying the views...watching flying fish.


After dinner, night one, we went to an English Pub and there was a guy with a guitar singing your typical sing-a-longs...we had a blast, and Will even got up and sang with the guy!


Loved the balcony!


Me and Anna in Cozumel. It was HOT! Will ended up with a monster sunburn.


After dinner one night.


Sitting on the front of the ship one night after dinner. It was windy...just a little.


Anna, Cindy and I at the Cahal Pech Mayan Ruins in Belize


Our ship, the Navigator of the Seas, as seen from our ferry on the way back from Belize.


I have so many more pictures and another post might be coming, but I will try to put them all on Facebook, too (in the mean time). Life is going at full speed here - I'm gearing up to move from my current school to the new Performing Arts Magnet Middle School next year! I cannot wait. I will be teaching Language Arts to sixth graders, with the possiblity of having a few classes of seventh graders as well. The situation and timing could not have been more perfect, and it is an answered prayer in so many ways (answering things and giving things I hadn't even though to ask for...).

We expected 2009 to bring a lot more time at home for Will, but that has certainly not been the case. Week after week he is on the road, with a few days here, maybe a week...Not what we would prefer, but it's just the way it goes. We're hoping to go camping over Memorial Day weekend if he's home.

I've decided to pursue my National Board certification next year. This will make it a lot easier to teach in other states as we continue to move where the Air Force sees fit. It will be a long, tough road, but I am excited to stretch myself and grow as a teacher. I will be collecting my data and completing my portfolio starting this summer and throughout the next school year, and will have to submit it in April 2010. I will take my six assessments that June and receive my scores by December 2010. Whoa. I sure am glad I'll be back teaching just Language Arts (which will be my certification area) and will be able to focus on that one subject. I hope it will be powerful for my students to see me pursuing this education and certification - and I'm hoping the unique experience of being in a magnet school will make my portfolio stand out.

So, here we go, full speed ahead. We're loving living this crazy life together!
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Wow...I almost forgot how to sign in to blogger! It's been a while.

I played my first round of golf (if you can call it that because it was a scramble) this weekend and had a blast! Will and I were on a team with another teacher from my school and her husband. It was a charity event for our district's Citizens for Public Schools group. We had to take three drives from every player, and luckily I had three, and only three, decent drives. It would have been one long round if it were not a best ball tournament.

Thanks to our mad skillz (well, really our husbands' mad skillz), we won. And no, I'm not even kidding. We won these lovely red hats, and a round for a foursome at the course where the tournament was held, which is a pretty nice course.


Go us.
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