weather, week-end, and good stuff

Good evening friends & family. What a week of weather - I've walked at the park TWICE!!! Super duper springy weather is nice, even when it rains (because we always need the moisture - just ask the farmers!). I'm enjoying the springy temps too - not too hot and not too cold. Just right.

Elissa and I had a great time together. We didn't do a whole lot - we did enjoy the snow, eating at Cookie Basket (good thing she found money in her jacket or we'd have been washing dishes!), cookies from the Key Lime Cottage, multiple trips to Walgreen's, sitting around the living room drinking tea, looking through pictures, sharing pictures, eating out (we didn't want to cook!) at Brick Oven Pizza and Mimi's Cafe. And of course, seeing MICHAEL BUBLE!!! The opening group was Naturally 7 and they were really good. Check them out! Then, it was a 30 minute wait on Michael, but that was okay. We had some good conversation while waiting!!! Michael can put on a great concert - fun, casual, and lots of great music! Well worth the wait and a night to remember.

I'm working on my grad presentation for my grad class - podcasting for teachers! Lots of interesting things out there. I downloaded a bunch of stuff to my new ipod and listened to it while walking this evening. Sure made my walk go fast! That, and the good music too.

If you've ever had to wear glasses, you'll know what I'm talking about here. Remember when you got your first pair of glasses? Remember when you went outside and looked around, and actually saw leaves on the trees instead of just green blobs? You know that "aha!" feeling when you finally get something? Or maybe when the fog cleared and you could see where you were going? Maybe you'd call it an epiphany, a clearing, or just what some glasses can do for you. Whatever you call it, it's a cool feeling. I still remember my big red glasses. I could barely walk on the sidewalk as we were leaving the eye doctor's office. But I looked up and saw so many individual little green leaves on the trees. I was like, "Wow!" I wonder how long it had been since I had seen that (how bad were my eyes?!?!). Anyway, after a few dates with someone (Mr. Pirate - see future Laura blog post), being on eharmony, after processing a few of the other guys I've dated, I had that cool feeling of "ohhhhh!" I was typing up yet another answer to the eharmony question, "what are you looking for in a mate?" As I was typing my "regular" answer, I thought, "that really just sounds like Calvin." I've known Calvin since 2005. We officially met at spring sing 2005 after "meeting" on churchofchristsingles.com. We dated a few months. Even after we broke up, we were still good friends. We'd hang out, email, and keep in touch. So I emailed him again. He must be a saint to be so patient with me. Long story short - we're now dating again and it's even more fun this time. He makes me smile. He treats me so well and he's such a gentleman - a trusting man of God. We're going to picnic tomorrow - depending on the weather. Drive around the country roads, enjoy each other's company. I'm sure it will be another fun day, another memory made.

Hope you have a great week-end!

Marching On

We sang "Onward Christian Soldiers" this morning. And you know what? The chorus sounds really neat when you can actually hear the bass. It really sounds like marching......

Can you believe it is March already?!?!?! Me neither.

I was so excited that the Tuckers came Thursday night for the last home basketball game at Harding! We met up at Mazzio's and ate, before heading to the game. It was a great game!!!! http://www.hardingsports.com/News/mbball/2008/2/28/mbb07-08.asp?path=mbball I'm so glad we got visit with Matt's family (and ours) and that so many of them were able to come to the game. And hanging with John, Laura, Emily, and Ethan was pretty fun too.

Spring Break already! A week off from class and tutoring will be nice....now if I could have just gotten off work too!

Do you listen to the Harding radio channel (95.3 fm) much? I've been listening to it more and tonight I'm listening to some nice jazzy stuff. It has a good mix.

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).