Life

Life cereal is pretty good. So is the pineapple angel cake (angel food cake mix and crushed pineapple), especially topped with whipped cream (light is great!). Not to mention fish tacos.

So things are still busy and I'm really glad I'm not married with kids while working full time and going to school. How did Mom do that?! I guess overall things are going well - I'm trying hard to stay caught up and not let the little things go (like my contacts spreadsheet, my office appearance, phone calls, etc.). But it's a constant struggle - put out the most pressing fires first, and maybe I'll get around to the small fires later!

I've been thinking a lot lately. About decisions - have I made the right ones? Should I have done that? Should I have said yes or no? Should I not have let my stress level decide for me? Should I have let those little things bother me so much? Should I have been more assertive? affectionate? Should I have tried harder?

Emily's birthday was fun - backwards is the way to go! Mom & I went to Jonesboro to the new mall and shopped some too. That was fun!! I'm glad Mom got to come up and hang out - party, shop, church, just hanging out at home drinking tea. Thanks for your visit Mom - come back soon!

I'm really looking forward to Elissa coming back next week - planning food, things to do, things to talk about (why is she out of the country when I'm dying to talk?!?!?). And of course, I can't wait to sigh over Michael Buble. sigh.

Hope you have a great week.

BBBBBBBBBBBBUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

That's me - busy as a bee. bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz :-) Or me being silly. Take your pick.

So, school is going well. I did well on my first test. I'm working through the Universal by Design Stage 1 Planning. I think I'm starting to "get" it now although sometimes it still seems like a lot of busy work. I'm still trying to get my tutoring hours in - I have three different things so most weeks I can get at least one hour in! If you need a little help learning something new in nutrition, health, wellness, combating heart disease (the number 1 killer of women), money management, etc. - give me a call.

Work is going well. If you are interested in Strong Women, I'm teaching 2 classes again. Mondays & Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. in the Family Room at College church, and Tuesdays & Thursdays at 2:00 p.m. in the fellowship hall at the First Baptist Church in El Paso. I get to go to LR three times this week - ugh.

Supper Club is Thursday night. The good thing about being in it so long is that I can "recycle" recipes. So I'm making "white chili" which is what Staci made when we were partners in January 2004 or 2005. If you haven't used www.eVite.com it is pretty nice for party planning stuff.

Emily turns SEVEN on Sunday and I get to go party on Saturday!!! Yeah - I feel like it's been forever since I've seen them. I can't wait to see the Tuckers house - unpacked. And Mom will be coming & staying with me. Fun!

I don't have any deep thoughts. I'm looking forward to Elissa coming in a few weeks and we're going to see Michael Buble in concert!!!!! Can't wait!!! www.michaelbuble.com

It's Not Easy Being Green....

I already knew I was a "green" personality (NT for those of you not familiar with the colors). I came up with a lot of gold for my learning personality but I think I'm still green. But I didn't know it was more rare than, say, blue. I keep thinking of Kermit for some reason....

It's been a long but busy week. School is interesting - we even had a socratic seminar on Wednesday. After class, I went to Lara Noah's office to check out her "skylight" from the wind damage. It was good to see her!

I got my Harding magazine today. Best article is the last one, although reading about some of the history and customs of Harding was pretty interesting also.

I guess I don't have a lot to say tonight. I'm sleepy and I have to teach Best Care tomorrow. I should probably go over my lessons again! I get to teach about tax credits and sandcastles & mud puddles. Should be fun.

Shut up & kiss me

is playing on my new sound system right now. What? You were expecting something else? :-)

The holidays were fun! I had fun hanging out with Mom, the Tuckers, Patti. Mom & I had the pleasure of hitting every Wal-Mart between Fordyce & Ashdown the day after Christmas. We picked up a few goodies, nothing really big though. The next day, we hit T-town and I finally found a bigger, newer Christmas tree for half price! It's a prelit, 7 foot, TWINKLE lights tree. Yeah!! Now I'll for sure be excited for Christmas this year - I'll have that new tree to put up. Mom put up with me for most of the holiday and I enjoyed being with her alot. Patti is fun to add to the mix.

So the new year is getting off to a good start. I got all my ducks in a row for grad school. Managed to do good on the GRE, even though I didn't start studying until 2 days before. I was surprised by the things that came back easily (algebra) and the things that didn't (geometry). I think I can tie it back to the teachers I had - the more I liked the teacher, the better I did in the class, and the more I remember. Which would explain why I'm so bad in biology.

My grad class (yes, just one - 4 hours) is going well. I know the teacher, and that helps 'cause she is AWESOME and fun (and she might read this!). We have some interesting projects, learnings, and stuff. We've talked about personality & learning styles (I think I'm a green/NT), library (WOW - you don't even have to GO to the library anymore), and tutoring (although I have figured out that Algebra 2 is beyond me). It's fun to be learning, at the moment. I'm sure I'll tire of using my brain after a while, although it probably could use the exercise.

Work is going well also. Lots of projects - I feel like I'm juggling a whole bunch of things. But they are interesting! I'm even getting experience teaching college students - I'm teaching a ServSafe class to one of the FCS classes. Interesting.

Fun things I've done:

• climbed in the laundry room window of Laura & John's new house - because the garage door wouldn't open, Laura didn't have a key, I was freezing, AND I had to go to the bathroom.
• Dusted the walls in my den.
• Put together a mobile "Balance Your Meals" - a teaching tool from 1962. Yes, it's for real - I found it in my closet at the office. It fits in pretty well with my other retro kitchen stuff.
• Got my new Ipod nano going, hooked up my new stereo system.
• Learned how to podcast and vidcast. Now THAT'S cool.

(I tried to upload my first try at this, but was unsuccessful.)

I'm hosting a Ladies Gumbo Night tomorrow with Ellen. Bunco will be here next Monday (any ideas for prizes?!?!?!). Then Supper Club is finally getting off the ground this year, and Allison & I are hosting in February. Hopefully, I'll have company next week-end for the basketball game. But it's been quiet this week-end.

Hope you all have a great week!

Happy Holidays!

It's been a while - I've had internet issues! We had family pictures made the Saturday after Thanksgiving - the Tuckers were here anyway, and Mom came up for the pix. She brought Patti with her, and Patti was a big help - holding purses, setting up the pix, getting the kids to smile/look at the camera/be still! I think these are the first pictures we've had made since...I don't know when! The Tuckers have had pictures made, but we haven't had any of the six of us.

A sweet friend emailed me and was very encouraging. It was almost like someone said, "you are just fine the way you are - you don't need a man to complete you." I should know that, and I do. But sometimes it's hard to really feel it. Thank you sweet thing for encouraging me and inspiring me to get out there and do things.

Another holiday! I'm not really scrooge, but not the opposite either. I'll admit - I didn't put up my big tree or much else this year. I have a little tree in the kitchen but I didn't dig out the ornaments, so I'm hanging my Christmas cards on it! Lovely. I have a little tree at the office too. Maybe next year, I'll have a brunch/lunch one Saturday to refresh my friends out shopping! I need to wrap my presents - I hope the two I'm waiting on UPS to deliver arrive!!! I'm excited about going to Fordyce for Ethan's program, then to Ashdown, back to Fordyce for Christmas!, then back to Ashdown. Mom, Patti, and I may go somewhere - Jefferson, TX or Dallas maybe. Then it's back to work!

I'm trying to enrich my life in 2008 - read my Bible through, take several classes for my masters, pick up my clarinet again, and try to meet some other singles and make a difference. Find my spot. I'm not sure the kiddos are really my strength though. Oh, and keep my house and office straightened up and organized, and maybe "do" something with my den (get it decorated).

The Highlights

Ahh, what a great few weeks! Thanksgiving was, of course, a wonderful holiday. Mom arrived in Searcy on Tuesday before the Thanksgiving. We left Searcy Wednesday morning about 9:00 a.m. in Mom's van. We stopped by the Key Lime Cottage (I had ordered the YUMMY friendship bread, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin cupcakes!!! awesome!!!!) because I thought we needed to take some snacky/breakfast food. We stopped in West Memphis for a late breakfast/early lunch at Cracker Barrel (one of the three times we ate at CB on this trip) before heading on down the road. I drove and it wasn't too bad until we hit Hattiesburg. It rained off & on the whole time, but then on the radio we heard the tornado warnings. And then the tornado watch. We heard what county the tornado was in, but since we don't live there we had no idea where it was. So Mom got out her trusty AAA map, only to discover that we were IN the county, and in the storm's path. Hmm. We filled the tank with gas and finally decided just to keep going because the storm was morning east and the further south we went the better. So, we head out. We called the Eyrichs to ask about the storm and they told us to keep coming too. It was really pouring rain, very windy. I told Mom to watch the skies! The traffic slowed to a crawl, people had their hazard lights on, it was wild. But we made it through!! It didn't last very long, but I was sure ready to get to Long Beach! We ate, talked, caught up on the latest. We prepped food (whatever they told us to do), looked up recipes, got the Pina Colada cake on, etc. Thursday morning, Mom & I got up quickly and showered and dressed. We headed downstairs and chopped some more, crumbled cornbread, whipped cream, etc. More people arrived, and we ate about 2:00 p.m. It's been a while since I've been so stuffed. We managed to sit around and check out the sale papers while planning our "Chicks Day" attack for Friday.

Mom & I didn't get up to hit Michael's at 6:00 a.m. I didn't need anything that bad. But I did get up and around in time to hit Tuesday Morning, Stein Mart, etc. We came home to unload (again) and eat Mr. George's delicious oyster po-boys for lunch. Then we headed out again. We finally gave up and limped back to the house for leftovers.

Saturday morning, we took our time getting around before heading to Mobile. We met old friends of ours Phillip & Ann at Cracker Barrel for lunch, then we shopped at the new Eastern Shore Mall until dinner (do you notice a pattern here - shop & eat, shop & eat?). We went to Stix - sushi and hibachi grill! Mom & Mrs. Sue had never tried sushi before, so Elissa made sure we ordered several things for them to try. It was great! The show was wonderful and the food was way too good.

We went to church on Sunday, and then ate at a casino (it was a buffet and yummy - and we didn't even have to walk through the casino!). We had planned on leaving and getting on down the road, but the weather reports were calling for more bad weather. So we stayed another night with the very hospitable Eyrichs!!! And on the way home Monday, guess where we had dinner?!?!

More later - it's time for Bunco!

Another Super Sunday.....and I'm almost glad that I'll be gone next week! I know, that's bad. I am so far out of my zone in Children's Worship Training and the cradle roll class. The helpers today in the class had more experience that my age. And in CWT, the kids just look at me. Sigh. As someone pointed out, I'll never meet anyone in children's classes and in women's classes.

But it's been nice to hear in the past week:

• at least two people are praying for my future and future husband maybe
• that I'm doing a good job from several bosses

I guess I haven't really missed being in "big church" since Noel's talking about "happily ever after" - a series on marriage. Yeah, you know there aren't any fairy tales or happy endings for the singles. :-) I guess I just get tired of always listening to couples, marriage, children topics. I know, I know - I'll probably need to know that stuff sometime. Maybe. I'm starting to wonder. Yes, I do hear that biological clock - no need to point it out thank you very much. No need to pout about being an older mom when you're younger than me. No need to point out that you waited so long for your husband when you're younger than me. Let me tell you all about waking up to a cold & lonely house, coming home to a cold & lonely house, eating alone, going to sleep in a cold & lonely bed. (no, I don't want to spend a fortune heating my house this winter, so it is literally cold, but also figuratively cold.) Just for the record, I do like hearing about your families - I don't want to think that I get sick of hearing the latest tricks the kids are doing or anything! I have actually learned a lot just by listening to people at supper club. And I realize that I'm the odd man out in most situations. Just a little disclaimer!

I am looking forward to going back to Mississippi for Thanksgiving this week. Mom is coming here and we'll leave Wednesday morning, after stopping by the Key Lime Cottage for some yummies to take! We'll share Thanksgiving with the Eyrichs and friends, then shop the day after Christmas! Mom & I will head home Sunday after church, but we probably won't make it back to Searcy until Monday. Mom's still getting her strength back and we'll both be tired from the holiday. I'm looking forward to spending time with Elissa and her family. Hanging out with my best friend is always fun. Luckily, I always feel at home with Lis and her family. I'll miss seeing the Tuckers, but they will be here the next week-end. Yeah!!!