WARNING: Rebecca D. shows flagrant disregard for the rules of punctuation... She uses ellipsis with wild abandon... Punctuation interventions have been done to no avail... If you are offended by such irreverence to the rules of grammar... The very glue that holds our society together... STOP READING NOW... Move on... There is a little button at the top that says "next blog"... You would be well advised to use it... You were warned...

Post-Its Are All I Gots...

Friday, August 31, 2012














Thanks for listening,


PS. The slaughter of the English language in this post was intentional... Just in case you think I pulled a muscle in my brain too!

Getting Down To Busy-ness...

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Wowzers... And I thought I was busy in the weeks leading up to the wedding... Unless I am forgetting the "pain" so to speak, I am just as busy now!

River, the art teacher who I share my classroom with and I finally got a chance to get into our "new" classroom Monday and get it set up... At least mostly... As I said before, the school rents space in an old high school that currently houses the town's library on the first floor... The school I will be teaching at is only starting it's sixth year and each year it grows... Last year we were able to "borrow" the space for art classes but since the school didn't rent it they couldn't set the room up as a classroom. This year the room is ours but we couldn't get into it until this week... The rush was that all the students and their parents would be at the school at 6:00 Monday night... River and I wanted the room at least a little classroom like before they got there... As of 11:00 AM it was a big empty room... Actually, it was worse then an empty room... The school secretary kinda panicked about how bare it was and spent all morning setting up the meeting in that room.

So we arrived at 11:00 at the school with all hands on deck... River, her husband and their three little ones, Paul, Allison, Dakota, Jed, Katy and myself  ready to tackle the room and found it full of chairs and fully set up for a meeting. We had to break it to the super sweet 70+ year old volunteer school secretary that we were going to have to undo what she spent all morning working on! We had three trucks loaded down with shelves, tables and desks that had to go into that room... So we started the day by moving all the chairs and such into the lunch room and re-setting up the meeting... Next we had to move all the donated furniture into the room, clean it, (as most of it came out of garages and basements) then set it up... It turned out, after the first two hours we had too many helpers... River and I were spending more time answering questions than working on the room, so I sent my crew home, only keeping Allison to help me, and River sent her kiddos off with her husband, but unfortunately started to not feel well and ended up leaving herself... It was fine, I had Allison until 4:00 and we got tons done... I wish I'd thought to take pictures... I will tomorrow when I go up there to finish. I ended up calling Paul and asking him to grab me some clean clothes for the meeting, since I was just going to stay and work. It was about 80% done by the time the parents and student started showing up at 6:00! Yay!

The meeting went great... We had a good turn out. I only got to meet about half my students... I am the "new" teacher so I am somewhat of the "unknown", so it was a bit strange. All the new students and incoming freshmen and their parents were bold and came right up and introduced themselves, but the returning students either avoided me altogether or were very timid... The school being so small and young has had staffing changes every year, so you think they would be used to it, but having a new teacher seems to really unnerve them... Which is especially strange, since a least half of them already know me! The students I did meet seem super great, and I can't wait to get going. I really wish I didn't have to wait until next Wednesday to start teaching! We have teacher work day all day Tuesday, then the student are there Wednesday! WooHoo!

The whole house sort is still going on... I am nearly done with the basement, and will be moving onto the main floor later this week... The biggest challenge so far has been getting the donation piles bagged/boxed and the trash bagged and out of the house... It kinda piles up quick and I am always trying to wrangle people to haul it out, so I don't have to keep starting and stopping. To answer one readers question as to why 40 days... This was originally a Lenten challenge, I first heard about it two years ago, but Lent was already half over so I decided to do it the next year... This year I was so crazy busy with the wedding I didn't even realize it was lent (being protestant) until it was a week into it... I decided that if I put it off for another whole year, it wasn't ever going to happen and decided to commit to doing it before the summer was over... It wasn't looking good, to tell you the truth, but when I got the teaching job I felt like "it's now or never" and am trying to power through all the big areas before school starts...

I am also trying not to be emotional as Allison and I shop for her very last first day of school which happens later this week... (sob)... I can't believe my baby is so close to done... She could have graduated last year but we missed the cut-off... She is only going in every other day for two classes... One science, and French 4... She really didn't need much in the way of back to school stuff and was willing to forgo the whole thing with the exception of some new jeans, since we are sorting everything she saw how much she has... Such a mature attitude, but I was not willing to give up my last back to school shopping adventure... I convinced her I needed stuff and so she went along with me... She did let me buy her a new Vera Bradly wristlet, some new bras and the stuff to make a new tote bag. (More on that later.)

I have to get back to lesson planning...

Thanks for listening,

I'm ACTUALLY Doing This...

Saturday, August 25, 2012

A quick update on my 40 Bags in 40 Days challenge...

21 "bags" down... At least 19 to go! (When this is all said and done I believe I will have FAR more than 40 bags...)

Here is the breakdown:
15 bags (or boxes) to Goodwill
2 Boxes of art/craft supplies and other stuff donated to the school
2 bags of food to the food bank (from the initial pantry sort... I still have a lot of work to do in there, so it's still on the list...)

I have also thrown away (or recycled) 7 bags of trash! (I am no longer counting "trash" in my 40 bag count!)

If I complete this whole list in under 40 days I have a little reward for myself planned that involves a day spa...

Here is my updated list:

1. Coat Rack / back door area in Kitchen

2. Bakers rack in Kitchen

3. Under Kitchen Sink

4. Kitchen gadgets (in crocks and drawers)

5. Upper Kitchen cabinets

6. Lower kitchen cabinets

7. Entertainment center  (started)

8. DVD collection

9. Shelves in cellar stairs

10. Pantry  (started)

11. Linen Closet

12. bathroom

13. gift wrap bins (started)

14. Allison's Closet

15. Allison's room

16. back deck (started)

17. entry way

18. Our closet (started)

19. Our Dresser (started)

20. My nightstand (started)

21. Craft supply shelves

22. Party supply bins

23. Office supply shelves

24. Christmas decor

25. Laundry room

26. freezers

27. "paper goods" shelves

28. "Other Seasonal" decor bins

29. book shelves

30. Katy's old bedroom

31. Shelves in storage area in basement

32. "messy corner" in my bedroom (started)

33. basket on top of microwave (our "junk drawer")

34. bookcase in my bedroom

35. stuff in "trunk" of our vehicle

36. Old Magazines in pile in my bedroom

37. cedar chest

38. "mess" in living room/kitchen from basement sort

39. girls "keepsakes" and toys in basement bins

40. My brother's childhood crap stuff he left here 25 years ago when he moved out...


I feel great getting this taken care of once and for all! I simply can not wait until our home is more organized and "user friendly"!

Thanks for listening,

Lesson Planning...

Friday, August 24, 2012

I am hip deep in sorting... I am making slow but steady progress on my full house sort out, and purge... (you can read more about it here!) I wish I had started this sooner, but isn't that always the way? I did get rid of two more bags today and I know I promised you before and after photos but since I am still mostly focused on the basement storage area and "overflow" of that storage area, there really isn't much to show.

I have also been popping into the school off and on all week trying desperately to get ready for the new school year. Our school is on the second floor of an old New England style high school. The first floor is now the town's library, and we share the second floor with a small church, a counselor, and an art studio... We have most of the floor at this point and each time a space opens up, they try to rent it... The classroom I will be in is the "new" one that I will be sharing with the art teacher... (You met her HERE) We just got "custody" of the room, so to speak... It had previously been used by the "Friends of the Library" and they graciously move out yesterday (even though it isn't really ours until Sept. 1st) so we can start setting up... There is soo much to do, I am so glad we do not start school until after Labor day...

Here is a peek at the building...
I swiped these photos from the school's web page...


Neither is "head on" but you get the idea...

Here is a link to the school's web page...
It hasn't been updated since last year, but I know at least one of you was curious...
Astute readers may spot Katy in some of the mission trip photos... No, she did not go to school here, but she did help chaperone a couple mission/fields trips.

There has also been some curiosity about what I will be teaching...

Well, I will be teaching Biology, with my old friend...
Both girls took this course and I am very familiar with it... Prepping this course feels like a stroll down memory lane...

I will also be teaching Advanced Biology,
And for that I chose Apologia Marine Biology

I am not as familiar with this course, but as I read more and more of the text I am getting really excited to teach it!

I will also be teaching Health, using Total Health


I used this one with Allison, so I am familiar with the course, but I am excited to get to do this on a class wide level... There were so many "group" type activities included in this that just didn't translate perfectly for homeschool... Don't get me wrong, if you homeschool and are looking for a high school health course I highly recommend this one, I just think it will be a lot of fun to do this with a class!

Part of this course is "sex education" and I am either the perfect or worse choice of teachers for this subject. The topic of sex does not bother or embarrass me... The girls and I have always been incredibly open about the topic and I don't even mind the "boy" parts of it... (No pun intended!) The curriculum calls for separating the girls and guys for that chapter, so my class is conveniently just before lunch... For three weeks in the spring I will have all boys while the girls eat an early lunch then all girls while the boys eat... I'm sure I will have a lot to share when that time comes.

Thanks for listening,

A Hodgepodge Where I Ramble On & On...

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

It's time to put on our grass skirts and hula over to Joyce's weekly Hodgepodge...



This week I took the questions way too seriously and probably rambled on too long... Apparently I am in a long-winded mood, which is ironic since question #5 is about silence...

1. Aloha! On August 21, 1959 Hawaii officially became a US state. Have you ever been? Upon arrival would you prefer an orchid or a hibiscus to tuck behind your ear?

No, I've never been... Paul went with his parents as a child. He has fond memories but doesn't seem to have any strong desire to go back. Although I think it would be fun to visit there are a lot of place above Hawaii on my wish list. If I did find myself there, I'd choose the orchid...

2. Since we're talking tropical...what's your favorite food or beverage made with pineapple?
I make a really good sweet and sour chicken that isn't as sickly sweet as the ones served in restaurants... It is a hit around here, but my favorite pineapple dish was the "House Pad Thai" from a Thai restaurant that no longer exists... Sad...

3. Do you believe in soul mates? Explain.
Yes and No... Yes, because I do believe the Lord has someone for all of us... Sometimes more than one someone. I met a woman recently who will tell you both her first husband (who died unexpectedly) and her new husband are her soul mates... No, because love is a choice, not just a feeling. It is both, but not always in the same order... Some times you feel it first then choose to act on it, other times you choose to love and the feeling comes... This can change over time and some times hourly! You have to choose to love and be loving or it seems inevitable you will "fall out of love."

4. Share a memory about the house you grew up in.
Since we moved back to Maine to take care of my parents we are living in my childhood home... It is a very weird feeling to be living in the house I grew up in. I kinda hated it as a kid... Our house was (is) a small ranch style and it was always the smallest of all my friends and I always wanted an "upstairs"... I am the youngest of one brother and five step brothers and sisters... My parents we in "downsize" mode when we moved here when I was eight... Ironically, if it felt small when I was a kid/teen, imagine how small it feels now. That being said, I don't hate it any more... I see the potential and if we can get things organized once and for all I think I could even like it...

5. Are you comfortable with silence?Yes, but I wasn't always... In fact, being a talker, I'd say I tend to be a silence filler, but as I grow older I am getting better at being still. Paul and I went on a sunset cruse the other day and most of it was spent with him and I standing at the rail of the boat, silently taking it all in... It was an amazing time. That being said, my thoughts are NEVER silent... If I'm awake, and I am not talking, I am thinking... Paul says he can just "not think"... Kinda put his mind in neutral, and after asking around I have met several more guys who have that ability. My theory is that we women don't "multi task" per se, but we never switch our brains off so we catch more of what's going on around us. (That is why we can talk on the phone, cook dinner and listen to what the kids are up to all at the same time.)

6. You spot a giant spider on your bedroom wall...what's your next move? (all spiders are giant, right?) I do not like spiders at all... They totally freak me out. I think every one of them looks menacing. A spider on the bedroom wall... If it is truly huge, Paul will be taking care of it wether he wants to or not... If it is smallish I will deal with it. That being said, Paul likes spiders so he spares their lives... I always give him the option of relocating the offender before I whack it with whatever shoe is handiest. I've also been known to vacuum the creepy crawlers up if they are not in a good spot for "whacking"... Either way... I could NOT sleep in a room I knew a spider was in... No way!!

7. My idea of fun does NOT include ______________.

Crowds or gossip...

First of all, I do not enjoy being in crowds... If my family wants to go to a fair or something as a family I always try to figure out when it will be the least crowded. Paul is the same way, but for different reasons. He is an introvert, so he dislikes crowds for all the classic reasons... For me it is because I not only have a very sensitive sense of smell which makes crowds an unpleasant experience... Especially in the summertime, but the other reason is somewhat weirder... I am extremely sensitive to the emotions of the people around me. I don't know why it this is, but if I am not careful I start feeling what the people around me are feeling even if there is no reason for me to be feeling that way. This is particularly true in setting that are emotionally charged, in fact years ago I went to a funeral of someone I had never met, the husband of a co-worker of Paul's, and I was totally overwhelmed by the grief of the family. It washed over me and I had to leave before I started crying uncontrollably for the death of a stranger... It is disconcerting to be this way and be in crowds... With large numbers of people, all feeling different things I get quickly exhausted. I know I sound nuts right now... I don't talk about this often. In fact it has only been in the last few years that I really realized what was going on, and have become more careful about it. Don't get me wrong, this can be a gift too... I frequently can feel what those around me are feeling and can be genuinely empathetic to what they are feeling.

Secondly, gossip... I have felt it's spirit killing sting and watch it crush my daughters... Gossip kills... Even if you are not the one being gossiped about, what you are hearing when you listen to gossip will affect your opinion of the person being gossiped about. Even if you tell yourself it won't, believe me, it will. I would rather have someone physically hurt me than gossip about me... The pain of being the victim of gossip goes so much deeper. I am not innocent when it comes to gossip either, and it pains my heart to know I have listened to and participated in gossip. I remember telling myself that as long as I wasn't repeating gossip, I wasn't gossiping, but listening to gossip IS gossiping. Also, take it from me, if your "friend" is gossiping to you, it is only a matter of time before they are gossiping about you.

*Update* I had a bloggy friend email me and tell me she too hates gossip but often is unsure what is and isn't gossip... I too struggled with this for a long time, at time probably seeming insensitive, because I assumed any time a third person is being discussed who wasn't present, it was gossip. That can be true, but it also could just be your friend recounting a genuine experience that involved other people... We as women often "process" situations by sharing with our closest friends and getting their feedback... Gossip is different... If you are sharing a story that did not happen to you or involve you, it's gossip... If a sentence start with "You'll never believe what I heard", it's gossip... If the teller is getting a bit of a thrill telling it, it's gossip... If you are getting a bit of a thrill hearing it, it's gossip. If what you are hearing about someone else makes you uncomfortable, it's may be gossip. If what you are hearing is second, third or fourth hand it is most likely gossip. If it starts of with "don't tell anyone I told you this" or "You didn't hear this from me."... It's gossip... That being said, I really think the best way to know is the "thrill" feeling either the teller and/or the listener gets... Gossip is a sin, and we frequently get that rush you get when you know something is wrong... If a friend is recounting an experience we should feel empathetic, or whatever emotion is appropriate to the story... Gossip is tricky, it is hard to define, but if we are honest, we know it when we hear it.


8. Insert your own random thought here. As my house wide clean up continues (You can read about it HERE) I realize that most of the the clutter that is taking over our home is mostly due to busyness, complicated by laziness... Nobody seems "attached" to most of the stuff we are sorting, it just seems to pile up when we get busy and we just never get back to dealing it... Combining two households of stuff into one small house is bound to be problematic, but beyond that, we need to stay on top of messes. This needs to be a house wide commitment.  

Here are the first five bags and a box headed to the Goodwill...
Four more bags are in the trash...
I think we'll do a lot more then 40!

Lets take a good look at Allison's "Vanna" face!


Thanks for listening,
 

40 Bags in 40 Days... Updated...

Monday, August 20, 2012

I first heard of the forty bags in forty days challenge when a friend posted it on her facebook page... I looked it up and discovered Clover Lane... Sarah is a super cute mom of FIVE with one due any day... If anyone knows organization it's a pregnant mom of 5!!! She of course is a big time blogger and has no idea who I am or that I am running with her idea...

The premise seems to be that you commit to getting rid of at least 40 bags of stuff in 40 days... Some of those will be trash bags and some will be "donation" bags, but all of them will be bags of clutter that will be gone from our home! Some areas will of course produce less then a "full" bag and others will produce a lot more... Also sometimes I may power through a bunch of locations in one day or some may require more then one day to finish... I am trying not to sweat the small stuff here... The goal is to clean out and organize!

We started this weekend by unloading EVERY box, bin and all misc stuff from the basement onto a tarp in the yard... (This is all the stuff we had when we moved here... We had a household worth of stuff in Tennessee and my mother and step-father had a VERY full house when we got here... Aghhh!) Once it was in the yard the girlies and I opened and sorted as much as we could... I got rid of four huge trash bags of stuff and we took two full loads to the Goodwill... I was also able to bless the girlies with quite a bit of useful stuff for their (current or future) homes. It was a great kickoff to my 40 day purge, but a lot of it ended up in my livingroom for further sorting... I have to succeed in this quest at this point or burn the place down...

I will be encouraging my mother to sort and purge a lot of her stuff too... We'll see if she is in the mood, but hopeful "organizing fever" will take over our household!

I will be blogging before and after pictures for most of the clean outs... I did promise Paul soon after I started blogging, not to publish our bedroom... That was the only request for privacy he had, so I try very hard to comply... But other then our bedroom I will try to do before/after pictures.

Today is August 20, 2012 and my goal is to be done by October 1. 2012...

Here goes...

1. Coat Rack / back door area in Kitchen
2. Bakers rack in Kitchen
3. Under Kitchen Sink
4. Kitchen gadgets (in crocks and drawers)
5. Upper Kitchen cabinets
6. Lower kitchen cabinets
7. Entertainment center
8. DVD collection
9. Shelves in cellar stairs
10. Pantry
11. Linen Closet
12. bathroom
13. gift wrap bins
14. Allison's Closet
15. Allison's room
16. back deck
17. entry way
18. Our closet
19. Our Dresser
20. My nightstand
21. Craft supply shelves
22. Party supply bins
23. Office supply shelves
24. Christmas decor
25. Laundry room
26. freezers
27. "paper goods" shelves
28. "Other Seasonal" decor bins
29. book shelves
30. Katy's old bedroom
31. Shelves in storage area in basement
32. "messy corner" in my bedroom
33. basket on top of microwave (our "junk drawer")
34. bookcase in my bedroom
35. stuff in "trunk" of our vehicle
36. Old Magazines in pile in my bedroom
37. cedar chest
38. "mess" in livingroom/kitchen from basement sort
39. girls "keepsakes" and toys in basement bins
40. My brother's childhood crap stuff he left here 25 years ago when he moved out...

Wish me luck!

Thanks for listening,

Oh Glorious Day!

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Yesterday we started to sort through our whole basement.... I am really feeling like a horder! I want to have this project done before school starts in the fall... I am also getting ready to start a "Forty Bags in Fourty Days" project... I will share more on that Monday, but until then I menioned a song that is really touching my heart these days, and I thought I'd share it with you...





Thanks for listening,

Another Award... Yippee!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Julie over at As Jules is Going nominated me for a LIEBSTER award... She is so sweet!

(Here is a confession... I have actually been nominated for this award a couple times before, but it always seemed so time consuming to meet the requirements I never got around to fulfilling them.)

What is the Liebster {LEEB-ster} award, you ask? The Liebster award is given to upcoming bloggers who have less than 200 followers {shhh, don’t tell}. The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome.


Rules for receiving this award:1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.2. Then answer the questions the tagger sent for them, plus create 11 questions for the people they've tagged to answer.3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post.4. Notify the people you have tagged.5. No tag backs.

11 things about me…


1. I was born in Bad Kreuznach, Germany... (It was West Germany when I was born!)

2. My dad was in the ARMY (hence #1)

3. I am a night owl... I always have been and even during those seasons that I had to be up early my internal clock always fights it.

4. Even now to fall asleep I have to read to fall asleep...

5. I was a terrible cook for the first seven or so years of my marraige... Well, not terrible but not good either. And I don't know why I suddenly decided to get better at it, but it seemed to happen kinda over night.

6. In my mind I'm a "girly girl" but in reality I am no such thing...

7. I have good luck in raffles and drawings... I win more than most people I know, and so did my father... I didn't think something like that could be hereditary... Go figure..

8. I do not journal... I have tried several times, but can never keep with it... Which is weird since I blog, and in some ways that is kinda the same thing.

9. I love all colors but by default I think red is my favorite color... I seem to be attracted to it and buy a disproportionate amount of red things...

10. I always have sunglasses with me when I leave the house (rain or shine) even if I don't wear them on my face... They are almost always on top of my head.

11. I never listen to my messages, on either my cell or home phone... Leaving me one is futile, because I won't listen to it. I check my caller id frequently and will call people back, but don't even know how to check my voice mail on my current cell phone. In fact, I am kinda funny about the phone in general, and will frequently just not answer it... I hate being interrupted in the middle of, well almost anything by it's ringing. My mother always answers the phone and if I am here she tells the caller I am and calls out for me... This is my number one pet peeve... I am more likely to answer my cell phone and text, facebook or email is the best way to communicate with me. (All impersonal... Weird for an extravert, I know...)


Julie's Questions for me...  

1. What’s the theme song of your life {make up one if there’s not one already in existence}? I don't know if it's the theme song for my life... At least not my whole life here, but Casting Crowns "Glorious Day" is the song in my heart... I am continually moved by it and transported to a place of worship by it...  

2. What is your most recent project you've completed?
Does the wedding, subsequent showers we hosted and the antique show we catered count? I feel like they should... I am also starting a 40 bags in 40 days challenge, I'll tell you more about that soon, but just completing the list felt like an accomplishment!

3. Describe a time you laughed until your tummy hurt.
The night before last... We (Paul, Katy, Jed, Allison, Dakota, & myself) were eating dinner on the back deck as we usually do in the summer and Allison decided to toss her watermelon rind into the bushes and ferns behind our house... All of us but Paul (who thought we'd attract skunks) thought it seemed like a fun if not good idea and even though he accused us of being easily amused he didn't stop us... Until... Allison was on her third slice of watermelon and decided to really throw it hard... I think she was going for distance... Anyhow it flew from her hand prematurely and smacked Paul with a loud thunk right in the middle of his chest. The look he gave her was too much... We all died laughing and couldn't stop... (Yes, even him!) I am laughing even as I type this.

4. What was the last thing you re-tweeted?
I kinda, sorta gave up on twitter... I don't even remember my password.

5. What’s your favorite TV show or Movie?TV Show... I'd have to say Gilmore Girls because I usually watch it with at least one of my girlies and love that it's our show... By myself I tend to be more nerdy and watch Battlestar Galactica (newer ones) or Firefly on DVD... Movie is tougher... I love to watch almost all movies (except horror) but a favorite... Hmmm... I am going to go with four... "While You Were Sleeping" for romantic comedy, "The Bourne Identity" for action, "Serenity" for Sci-Fi and for drama I'll go with "The Blind Side"... But as a whole family we watch the entire, extended edition of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy at least once a year... 12 hours of family time is the perfect antidote for a mid winter blizzard, and it helps that the guys love them too!

6. Tell a brief story of your ultimate fail.You can read about them under "Need a Giggle" at the top of my blog... Here are direct links... Enjoy my shame...#1 & #2

7. Who is your biggest fan?
Paul... Hands down... He is always in my corner and encouraging me, but recently I met someone who knows one of the girlies that I hadn't met yet, and she was recounting all the amazing things my daughter shared with her and said since she met her it has been her goal to try to be as good of a mom as I am so that he children sing her praises like mine do. I was blown away to hear this and it is nice to know they appreciate who I was/am as a mother.

8. What do you want to accomplish {blog-wise}?
I want to be real... I want the people who read my blog to hear my voice. I want my readers to feel like we are friends, like we are catching up over a cup of coffee and they just asked me "So what is going on in your life?"... When I am fortunate enough to have a reader comment I can often follow their link back to their blog and get to know them too. I have had the amazing experience of making actual friends through blogging and even though that wasn't my goal, I am blessed by this outcome!

9. Where did you grow up and where do you want to live?
I grew up right here in Rockport, Maine and even though through the years we have lived in Tennessee, (Northern) California, New Jersey, Montana, and Vermont, this is the third time we find ourselves back here in Maine... Maybe the Lord is trying to tell us something??
As for where I want to live... I have lots of opinions but have decided I want to be where ever the Lord wants me. This is not a cop-out, because I want to say I want to be where my girlies are, and even though I hope this is what the Lord has for us, I don't know if that will be the case or not.

10. Top 3 favorite blogs to read?I absolutly can't narrow it down to three... You see that little list of who I read daily over there on the right... Well, I do... Those are the blogs of my bloggy friends and/or their blogs touch my life in some way... (Although there are a couple of you who only blog every once in awhile so I tend to just drop by yours weekly.) I also read the Pioneer Woman daily... I know, who doesn't, right? It was her blog that inspired me to try blogging and I am so glad I did.

11. Cold or Hot Caffeine drinker {or neither}?Both... I love coffee but mostly drink it in the morning with my beloved peppermint mocha creamer... I also like ice tea and drink it a ton in the warm weather... I don't really do cola anymore, I gave up all soda for a year last year and now pretty much only have ginger-ale if I have any.

Now the hard part...
To nominate 11 bloggers...
(I am not sure how many followers you all have, so if you have a lot more than the 200 required, I'm sorry!)

1. Julie at Herding Grasshoppers

2. Nina at Nina the Mom

3. Dawn at It Just Dawned On Me

4.Mindee at Our Front Door

5. Conny at The Life of an Ordinary Hausfrau

6. Angela at Angela's Randomness

7. Amiee at Promises and Secrets

8. Shannon at Sincerely Shannon (The amazing Joyce's daughter)

9. Katie at So, Funny Story

10. Karen at Karen's Corner

11. Angie at Angie's Ad Lib

My Questions for the nominees:

1. Why did you start blogging?
2. What is your funniest post?
3. If you could go anywhere on vacation where would it be?
4. Would you like to meet your bloggy friends or do you enjoy the anonymity?
5. When you are at baby showers and they tell you to write a piece of advice for the new mom what do you write?
6. Just out of curiosity, have you ever been to Maine? If yes, where and if no, what do you think of when you hear Maine besides lobster?
7. Do you have a favorite color for decorating and/or clothing and are these the same color?
8. What one song inspires you or touches you heart?
9. What is you favorite Bible verse or favorite quote?
10. Do you like to change up your home's decor (seasonal decorations, change the furniture around, etc) or do you pretty much leave everything where you put it the first time?
11. What was your favorite childhood toy or toy your child had and why?

There... I did it! I can finally post this award!
Thanks for listening,


PS. Let me know when you do your post so I can hop over and read your answers!

Welcome Back Logic and Common Sense...

Do you ever think you are the last sane person on the planet? Then your husband walks into the room and you extend that title to him... After a little thought you extend it to quite a few friends and even some more family members, but otherwise you wonder what has happened to logic and common sense... Did they just go out of style... In a world full of Kardashians and "Real Housewives"... Where countries are getting bombed while our national headlines were about Tom Cruse's divorce... Where the "news" stations are full of pundits yelling at each other and no real news is told, you can become discouraged...

Then a bloggy friend writes a post that helps you realize you are not alone... And the comments she received further reassure you that it's mostly just the media that is nuts... Sure there are plenty of people out there who have abandoned common sense for the lies the media tries to sell us... Otherwise we'd have no trashy reality TV, or "rent-to-own" stores... But there are still plenty of people out there who have a work ethic, do not believe they "deserve" what they didn't earn, and they don't mistake campaign ads as truth...

Thank you Joyce for being one such voice of reason in all the chaos...

Go read her post here... Born in the USA

Then if you think her words are as compelling and reassuring as I did, go ahead and pass them on!

Thanks for listening,

Life...

The other evening just before sunset the light outside was amazing... The kind of lighting that helps even a mediocre photographer with a decent point and shoot camera take some really great shots...
The problem? Nobody to take pictures of! I was so bummed... Katy, Allison and Dakota headed up to Augusta to run some errands and had just called to tell me they were planning to stop at the Olive Garden for dinner before heading back, so they were out... Jed & Paul had been trimming trees all afternoon and Paul was wearing old jeans, a faded holey tee and work boots... When I suggested he change so I could take his picture, he said he'd rather have a root canal and walked away... Jed followed him...

What would I do with such perfect lighting? Let it go to waste??
I did the only thing I could and took some nature shots...
These are the daisies my mother planted when I was just a little girl... They were within a day or two of going by so I am glad to snapped a couple shots. Daisies make me smile... They are not my favorite flower, but they are sweet and lovely!

I played around with the above two shots a little, but the next three I left completely untouched other than minor cropping to let you see the amazing light...

The world had turned an amazing soft amber color...
This is in the front yard looking at the driveway and street in front of our house...


These two shots are of a little wooded area on the left side of our front year... Mature trees surround the whole house but this tiny glen was my favorite place in the yard to hang out when I was younger. There was a little wooden swing right in the center of the last shot when I was a girl, but over the years it fell into disrepair and my step dad took it down... I keep bugging Paul to put one back up, even though the limb is now much higher and the girls are grown... This spot just needs a swing!

I felt like a real empty nester for the first time as I took these and felt foolish standing there in the front yard crying over the loss of "good lighting", but as any mom who has or is about to let her kiddos go will tell you, I was crying for so much more...

Thanks for listening,


PS. Julie's 20 days of giveaways is still going on over at "As Jules Is Going"... I do not get extra entries  or anything for blogging about it, I just adore Julie and want everyone to meet her and her super cute family!

Another New Baby to Shower...

Tuesday, August 14, 2012


About a week and a half ago some good friends of ours became foster parents to a newborn baby. Allison and I were chatting over coffee on Thursday and got to thinking what a shame it is that foster babies rarely get showers... I have a very good friend in Tennessee who has fostered several babies and adopted two of them... No shower for any of them... Shame on me for it not occurring to me to celebrate these precious lives and the women who drop everything and turn their lives upside down on a moment's notice to love them!

So Allison and I wanted to change this right away, and right away it would have to be... We looked at our calendars and realised this weekend would be the only one we would be free for the next five weeks... That means after we checked with the new foster dad we had three days to pull off a shower for Sunday afternoon... I literally heard the Mission Impossible theme music in my head. Could we throw together a party in that time that would be a blessing to the mom? Would anyone come?

We decided to do a "Diaper Shower" since the mom has a four year old daughter and two year old son... She has "baby stuff" but taking on the expense of diapers and stuff can be a real drain on your budget.

Katy had been looking for an excuse to entertain, so we conned her into asked her to host it at her new place... Yay, less housework for me... We just might pull this off...

Next decor... Allison had spotted these cute plastic popcorn containers in the dollar bins at Target and thought they would make cute vases and such... Since we only had a couple days and less money for this we decided to run back to Augusta (Which is 45 minutes from here and where the nearest Target is... Feel sorry for me yet?) to get what we needed... After talking to Paul we found out we had about a $40 budget to work with... Yowza... Cue that theme music again... We decided to just keep it simple... We created a little candy bar as a focal point and kept the food simple... Fruit, Cheese & Crackers, and Katy made some lemon bars. After we grabbed the popcorn containers we spotted the classic "Barnum's Animal Cracker" boxes... We decided to use those as our color cues and grabbed a few red and yellow pails (also from the dollar bins) to make the candy bar more colorful...


A bunch of candy, a couple bright colored bouquets of flowers and some plates, napkins and paper straws from our "party bins" and we were done... (Or over-budget... As the case may be...)


Sunday afternoon came, and we pulled off the surprise... She was so excited, and the candy bar was a huge hit... (Never under-estimate how happy candy makes adults!) We had a small but happy crowd of six adults, four kiddos and one adorable baby!

Here is the happy mommy with her big guy and her little guy...
You might remember River, she was the photographer at Kate and Jed's wedding and her husband Jerry was one of the grooms men... She also teaches art and photography at the school I will be teaching at this fall... (Yes, it's a very small community we live in!)

Here are my girlies with another sweet friend (who is pregnant and will probably be our next shower!) and the new big sister (making her "cheese" face!) on Katy's futon couch... I think all young people have a futon couch at one point or another... We actually discussed this at the shower and we determined we had all had one when we were starting out. (Random fact: Ours was in our den/guest room... Paul later fessed up he thought it would keep house guests from staying too long!)

Speaking of babies... Katy and Jed have one too...

Meet "Lucy"...
Or "Lucy Lu" as Kate calls her!
She is a "bengal" kitten and just eight weeks old...

She is so cute and has the most amazing markings but when she is awake she is a blur of energy so I found a picture of a bengal kitten on google that looks similar...

Lucy's spots are a bit bigger then this kitty's but you get the idea.
(NOT Lucy... from Google.com)

So we were all babies this weekend! (Yay!)


Thanks for listening,


PS. Don't forget about the 20 days of givaways going on over at As Jules Is Going... She is giving away some really cool stuff!!

The Interview...

Friday, August 10, 2012

So tonight at 6:30 I had my interview for the teaching job... I was nervous all day and the clock was moving so slow. I wasn't nervous about the job, it was in the Lord's hands and I was ok with either outcome... I was more nervous about the interview. Sometimes I get nervous in job interviews (and things like them) and I either can't shut-up or I can't stop laughing... Neither were the image I wanted to lead with.

I got there and the school board were had some other business to take care of before they got to me, and that was the moment that I was glad I talked Paul into going with me... He is my rock of calm... The school secretary was there and she showed me that she had already labeled a "mail" box for me... She said whenever she does this the person gets the job. She is so super sweet! When it looked like they would be ready for me soon, we prayed and I was as ready as I was ever going to be.

When it was my turn I have to admit I felt about like I did when I was 16 going in for my first job interview... I already knew two of the board members... I mean one of them is the father of the flower girls at Katy's wedding and was an usher himself... Why should I be nervous? I think maybe that is just the nature of interviews... I think the interview went well... I did talk too much (but kept it topical) and I forgot the word anatomy, but otherwise felt really good about the interview.

We left there and I was a bit of a ball of nerves so Paul and I prayed in the parking lot for a minute then we headed over to Katy and Jed's place to meet up with Allison and have a late dinner there. We hung out there for a couple hours and completely enjoyed each other's company. I must admit, it is really cool visiting my married daughter and he husband... They are such a fun couple.

When we got home I had an email that simply said, "Congratulations; you've got the MCCA teaching job! It was an easy decision." from the board member I talked about above... And it was sent over an hour before I got home so they must have made a decision in less then an hour!

I am so excited and can't wait to get started planning my school year... Ok, to be totally honest, I did start planning a little last night staying up a little too late... I couldn't help myself!


Thanks for listening,


PS. I was going to be a "local tourist" today so I could post a little more about Maine for you, but the rain is keeping me in for the day... I guess I will just make the run to Wal-Mart I've been putting off and nobody wants to see a post about that!

Today...

Thursday, August 9, 2012

 I found out my job interview is today... Well this evening at 6:00 PM (EST) so if you would be willing to offer up a little prayer for me it would be much appreciated...

I am not overly stressed... Either I get the job which would be great or I don't and life continues as normal... Both I am fine with, but interviews... Well they are a whole other thing...












Thanks for listening,