I'm still here. Except that here means out of town, which also means that I have no way to post the mass of pictures from our trip so far. I'll have to keep you in suspense until tomorrow at least. But here's what we've been up to:
Road trip Friday night (Avery slept the whole time. No joke! I really hope this good-traveler thing lasts for awhile because we tend to be on the road a lot...)
Rehearsal dinner for Adam and Melissa's wedding on Saturday (Pappasito's fajitas+Heather=love)
Church Sunday morning (after sleeping until TEN am and leaving 20 minutes later) and wedding Sunday night. (p.s. the wedding was gorgeous and I will be posting pictures)
Monday was Waterwall (where Matt proposed) and Galleria day, but it was tainted by dealing with texts of crazy neighbor drama and animal control threats. Not an easy fix when you're 4 hours away and they're just lying and having control issues.
Today is Thanksgiving! Well, Thanksgiving Part One. Since we won't be here on Thursday, we're celebrating a little early with Matt's family. You don't see me complaining about having two feasts!
And here's what's ahead:
Leaving bright and early tomorrow morning
Making our top-secret Thanksgiving dessert and side dish (probably after a mad dash to the store since I [oops] didn't plan ahead)
Thursday is Thanksgiving Part Two with my family. (Aaah, food, family, Cowboys, and Black Friday ads)
Friday is time with Jenn! Ohmygoodness I MISS this girl! Then movie date with Amy (don't know what we're seeing yet, but I know that we will not be seeing New Moon. Blech.) and maybe getting my Christmas stuff out of the attic. That might be a little ambitious.
Sunday is filled, too (go figure), and hopefully in between all the planning and going going going, we'll find some time to just sit, be thankful, and enjoy the company of friends and family.
I've been on temporary blog hiatus because, quite frankly, I've been wallowing in a sea of self-pity. As seen in my last post, my week didn't start off so hot, and folks, it only got worse from there. Instead of recounting all the ridiculous little things that amounted to the huge mess that is me this week, I will rejoice that IT IS FRIDAY, which brings me to...
1. This week was a slap in the face lesson in perspective. Yes, many crummy crummy things happened back to back to back to back to, well you get my point. I know too many people who are dealing with cancer, struggling to get pregnant, going through a divorce, trying to make ends meet, you name it. My "problems" seem so insignificant in light of true suffering. Thank you, Lord, for reminding me that these trials are only temporary, and instead of whining about all that is going "wrong" in my life, I should point my attention away from myself and onto a hurting world.
2. This girl is all over the place. I'm afraid to see how active she gets when she can actually crawl instead of just roll herself everywhere. Look out, world! (p.s. Ignore the red eyes and drool; she has clogged tear ducts and is seriously teething.) 3. Cereal and I have a great relationship. Except that it's getting a little out of hand and I must get it under control. I'm sitting here (on m conference, not teaching, silly) munching on dry oatmeal squares (so yummy, by the way!), and I feel ridiculous. Yesterday I even brought my fancy portable cereal bowl and ate real cereal with real milk in my very own classroom. It was brilliance. I digress. In my kitchen at this moment, I have no fewer than 8 boxes of cereal. Yes, EIGHT. I can't help it. The sales/coupon combo that results in $1.50 cereal boxes calls to me. It's a problem.
4. We leave for Houston today (and I finally got the house/dog sitter problem solved-- thanks Alex and Sarah!), and I have not packed. Ugh, why do I always do this?!?! It's not like I haven't known we were going on this trip for months. So after the bell rings at 3:45 and I'm able to leave at 4, I'm jetting out those doors, packing my bags, and leaving this town for five whole days. I need a break. (But I will miss my crazy little puppies.)
5. Shout out to the Company Girls. It's Friday coffee, and while I don't actually have coffee right now (does cereal count?), I'm hoping to actually have time to browse some blogs today now that I'm not swimming through a to-be-graded pile of research papers.
No, your child may not do anything extra to earn extra credit for last six-weeks, unless that "anything extra" is to reverse time and put forth more effort on their "reasearch papper." Had they shown concern for their missing work while there was still time to complete it, they might be one of the 65% of my students who actually passed this six-weeks.
Yes, your precious darling can still receive a zero for their mechanics grade even though they "turned it in." They made enough mistakes to warrant a negative grade; the zero was generous. You're welcome.
No, I do not hate your student. In fact, I really do care about his or her success in and out of my classroom. We actually have a pretty good relationship, and your student will perform better in class (and in life) if you will let them learn these lessons, albeit the hard way, without making excuses for them and telling them that it's all the teacher's fault.
I am DONE with grading research papers! Hallelujah! *Cue angelic melody.* Now if those dang Cowboys could've just gotten it together, it would've been a much better end-of-the-weekend.
Here's the weekend recap:
FRIDAY
(Scrapbooking at church. I just made cards. I'm determined to use up my huge drawer of scraps, thus the following cards.)
SATURDAY
(Catch up with Jenn on the phone. Only two more weeks until I see my long-lost best friend!)
(Okay, finally sit down to grade. These are the two casualties from this treacherous project: my smashed pinky and my beloved purple pen. RIP.)
(Make a trek to see the All-Region choirs perform. This is where Matt was all day. Boo for Saturday without him. Avery was a pro though and sat through the entire concert. We are seriously spoiled. And she really does smile, I promise, even though I apparently can't catch it on camera anymore.)
SUNDAY
(Praise team practice. Grade during Sunday School. Worship service.)
(Home. Lunch. Grade some more.)
(Choir practice. Avery's learning already.)
(Parents' house for a delayed Cowboy-watching. Oh, and more grading.)
(Grading complete! Breathe again.)
I feel so beyond relieved to be finished right now, but that will probably only last until tomorrow. I have a feeling that once some of my precious kiddos see their grades, I'll have some angry parent emails to deal with. Such is life. For now, Avery's fast asleep, and I have a date with Matt and a cold beverage waiting for me in the living room. Until next time, have a great week!
1. I love love love Christmas, but enough with all the Christmas music and decorations out the second Halloween is over! There's this little holiday in between called Thanksgiving, and I think we should celebrate that and acknowledge the bounty of blessings that we already have before everybody goes nutso over Christmas Consumerism. Ugh. Speaking of Christmas Consumerism, I am sooooo very excited about our Christmas giving this year. Mwahahaha. It's a surprise (duh), so you won't get to know about it until the 26th, but I'll tell you this. It's good.
2. I missed yesterday's All About Avery, so here's a quick rundown: she's eating a little bit of rice cereal every day now, rolling over like nobody's business, doing this sweet little scratchy thing with her hands (like she's scratching your back when you hold her-- she even gave Nutmeg a great belly rub this morning!), and sleeping 9-10 hours a night! She loves being on her tummy now and is becoming such a little flirt!
3. I have been Superwoman the last 48 hours. I've been cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and winning grocery gift cards (no joke!), on top of grading, grading, grading. I really hope Matt's not getting used to this. :)
4. I have started every item with the word "I," so I guess I'll continue it... I had a fun surprise visit from the Sanders girls yesterday! They happened to be in town, and I happened to be home, so we just happened to get together. They hadn't even met Avery yet, so this visit was long overdue!
5. I only have 27 research papers left to grade (as a result of my beastly grade day that helped me grade 41 in one school day), which means that I might reach my goal of finishing before Sunday! Whew, I'll be so glad when they're done.
***Edit: The original post was written when I wasn't quite coherent, so instead of leaving my ramblings posted for all to see, I'll leave this...
One of my biggest fears at the moment is that our freedoms are being chipped away (in small increments of course) until finally we'll be left wondering what in the world happened. I'm not an irrational person, but I believe that our current president has surrounded himself by some pretty shady people and is making some awful decisions for our country. Quite frankly, some of these decisions scare me. For that reason, I am so thankful for the freedom we have in Christ and for the power He has over any human ruler.
Enough midnight rambling. In the last few minutes of Veteran's Day, I'm going to leave you with this video clip because, as lame as the Gaither Vocal Band can be, this song never fails to give me chills. David Phelps is one of my favorite male voices, and this is one reason why.
It's back! I'm still not overly excited about this week's list because I'm no fashionista, but here's my list of Fall Fashion & Accessories.
Layering tees. I just stocked up on some J. Crew long-sleeved tees for this very purpose. They make spring/summer clothes last through fall.
Scarves. Love love love.
Ballet flats. I love heels, but they don't love me. Therefore, I love flats even more! Here are my favorites:
Hoodies. I live in these after school, and they're pretty much my favorite item of clothing. I guess that's the tomboy in me that's never quite gone away.
Turtleneck sweaters
Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin Candles from Bath and Body Works. Those count as an accessory, right?
Speaking of candles, I scored a free Glade candle tonight at Walmart just by printing off this coupon. The coupon is for $3.50 off any Glade Home Fragrance item, and the 4 oz. candles were $2.25 at my local Walmart, thus leaving the $1.25 overage to help cover the dish soap that I so desperately needed. (p.s. Thanks, Brooke, for giving us some to hold us over!) And now my house smells like yummy apple cinnamon! Yay for fall!
Okay, it's your turn. What are your fall favorites?
I am a wife, mommy, daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, cousin, friend, soccer coach, children's ministry director, and wannabe craft queen who loves her life enough to write about it.
Ps. 73:26
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
