Living with Disappointment

Todd and I have been so excited to get our new entertainment center! Unfortunately, we found out the Bassett Furniture is backlogged and their deliveries are running behind. Hopefully we'll have our new furniture by mid-February. That also means that a new flat-panel, LCD HDTV will wait until then as well.

Poor us. Boo hoo, huh? If that's our biggest worry, then we're doing GREAT!

Rough & Tough Beasts

After hearing the fierce growling and watching the gnashing of sharp teeth, I took this video of Steve & Pippin playing rope today. They're so tough.

Oh, how they make me smile!

Yet Another Blog

I've started another blog just for the photographs I'm taking for Project 365. It will be a simple blog with no frills or sparkles. I'll be changing the look of the blog as soon as the Cutest Blog on the Block fixes their website, so it won't be completely ugly.

Hope you enjoy the pics!

Why It's Hard to Leave in the Morning

Seriously . . . How would ANYONE not want to stay home and play?

Working in an Elementary School

The people I work with are truly amazing. I am often awestruck at what we are all able to accomplish and achieve with the student population we have at my school. No, we aren't inner-city. We are a suburbian school with an inner-city population and feel. The women and men who work with all of the children here are dedicated to the teaching profession and determined to help every student become a success no matter what it takes. To become a "Recognized" school with our population, you have to be a teacher - and an excellent one at that.

We are really and truly a family here. Everyone cares for one another as much as we do the kids. We help each other, lift each other up when needed, and cheer in our successes. You'll often see attaboy emails, requests for help, prayers being given, high fives in the hall, or simple smiles that say, "You can do it!"

Today I took my typical mid-day restroom break (usually the one break I get), only to find an inspirational message awaiting me. You can only find such messages in the trash of the teacher's restroom at an elementary school.

My question: Was it left as another sticker to trash, to inspire me to stay in the restroom for a while, or to just simply help us make it through another day? :)

Of course, I had to include this as today's photo on My Shuttercal.

Hanging at Papa & Marilynn's House

Two of my nieces, Ashley and Courtney, are in town from Ohio for a few days. It's always fun to go to Papa's and ride the tractor, run the riding mower, feed the cows range cubes, and give the donkeys some carrots. Believe me - all were done in our short visit at Papa & Marilynn's house yesterday!

Here's a video of the girls feeding the cows. Be ready: it involves cows & cow poop.



And some photos of the donkeys getting their carrots and us being together as a family.

Friends for Life

When I was three years old, I met two friends, Kim and Leslie. They were four (we all need "older" friends!), and moved in on either side of my house. We did EVERYTHING together --- greeting the ice cream truck, making cinnamon toast, trick-or-treating, riding Big Wheels, playing outside, going to each other's grandparents' houses, Christmas --- you name it!

Halloween 1972 - Leslie, Me, Kim
The only thing we didn't do together was school because eventually THEY were in 1st grade while I was a lowly Kindergartner. Our homes were intermingled in that we could be found in or near one of them at any given time. Sadly, Kim's family moved to Georgia a few years later and Leslie's moved out of the neighborhood not long after that. We had a sleep over the night before Kim moved, and as children, we knew that we'd never see one another again.

Thankfully, that wasn't the case. Kim, Leslie, and I are still friends. Yes, 37 years later! We have been with one another through the loss of parents, marriages, divorces, children, miscarriages, adoptions, family illnesses, moves, happy times, and sad times. We don't see one another often enough, but when we do it's easy to pick right back up where we were.

Thanks be to Ole Miss University - that they played in the Cotton Bowl today. That means Kim and her family came in from Georgia to see the game. It also means that Leslie and her family became available so we could spend our New Year's Day together. What a FABULOUS way to start off 2009!

Here are a few photos from our time together last night:


Although we don't talk nearly often enough, we are friends for life. I am thankful to have them both, and I know their friendship will be cherished for another 37 years and more!