Well, One Winter Weather Advisory Did Not Pan Out . . .

but according to the Weather Channel another storm is on its way! Last night our temperatures plummeted from the 50s to single digits in a few short hours. The winds howled and the rains came but no snow. A number of schools were delayed two hours this morning but we started on time. Now they are calling for up to 6 - 10 inches of snow Thursday evening through Friday evening . . . can you say school cancellation on Friday . . . keep your fingers crossed!

Three of my students all come from a small district west of Elida and lo and behold their district canceled school today. When I went in this morning I knew that they were on a two hour delay and by 9 AM I heard that they had canceled. Guess there was a power issue in the district . . . don't quite understand how that affects the transportation of students to neighboring districts but it made for a very pleasant day for Joyce and myself. With just one student, who needless to say had a lot of make-up/missed homework to complete, we got a ton of things done. I got all my weekly reports together and got caught up on grading. Also started planning for my 2 days off next week, when I am at a special education conference in Columbus. Feels great to have my desk back under control again!

Since calm is my word for the year I found this neat poster on-line on Ali Edwards's blog. She posted a link to some places to buy the poster . . . it's a reproduction of a British poster from World War II. Well I ordered 3 of them from a store in England, Barter Books. Places here in the US want a minimum of $20.00 a piece and I bought all three of mine for $29 and that includes shipping. Going to put one of them in my computer/scrap room and one in my classroom at school. Not sure about the third one, so if you are interested in one, let me know.

Well guess that is all the news here in Lima that is fit to print. Have a great evening everyone! Stay warm!

So What Would You Buy for Yourself with $1,000,000 . . .

That's what this week's Ten On Tuesday question is . . . You’ve got a million dollars, and you’ve got to spend it on yourself . . . not your family. Another stipulation, you can't save it or give it to charity. So, how would you spend it?

1. Buy a bigger, nicer, more over the top condo
2. Hire a decorator to decorate the new place
3. Take care of outstanding bills for the next year so I can take a year off from work and travel the world . . . Alaska, Australia, African safari
4. Buy a new Corvette ZR1 . . . I'd let Mark drive it if he was nice to me
5. Buy a scrapbook store and stock it with all the lastest and greatest products . . . then I could attend CHA
6. Continue to get my nails done every week, get bi-weekly pedicures, and weekly massages
7. Hire a personal chef, a personal trainer, and stylist
8. Follow the NASCAR circuit for a season and get seats in private boxes to watch each race
9. Buy a laptop and upgrade my home computer
10. Buy at least a 2 carat diamond solitaire ring, 1 carat diamond solitaire earrings, a 2 carat diamond solitaire necklace, and a diamond tennis bracelet

Well there you go . . . I probably spent more than a million . . . a girl can dream, can't she.

Guess that's it for today. Rough day at work today and it is not even a full moon. Think I will simply veg tonight and hit the sack early. Have a great evening everyone!

Monday Morning . . . Enough Said . . .

New student coming again today. Should be interesting . . . Not real sure how this one is going to work out. Seems like a nice enough kid but a lot of behavior issues. Just have to keep telling myself to stay calm and to remember that it is "my room, my rules".

Got one more layout done yesterday. Took this picture a mere 6 days after our 3+ inch snow storm January 2 . . . could not believe that all, and I mean all, of our snow had disappeared! No piles, no nothing! The papers used in this layout are from my December kit from Little Red Scrapbook and the design was inspired by one of their designers, Katrina Huerta. That's one of the big reasons I like to get kits each month. Everything is all matched up like I like it, and the kits force me to use papers and embellishments that I would normally not use.

Watched parts of the Rolex 24 at Daytona . . . the official start of 'Speed Weeks' down in Daytona. Less than 3 weeks until the Daytona 500! Mark and I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel . . . or what we fondly call the "Dark Time" here at home . . . the official start of the 2008 NASCAR season! We read last week that Mark's driver, Dale Jarrett or as all his friends refer to him . . . DJ, has taken a job as the color analyst for ESPN/ABC NASCAR broadcasts. This means we will be seeing a lot of him come the second half of the season when the races are broadcast on ESPN and ABC.

Guess that is about all for this morning. Going to go make myself a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast . . . high of 46 degrees predicted for today . . . have a great day everyone!

Scrapping and Other Fun Things on a Sunday Afternoon . . .

Well, there are a ton of things I should be doing other than scrapping but scrapping has been my priority today. Didn't get a whole lot done yesterday since I spent way too much time playing with my new iPhone. Also, yesterday morning, Leslie and Chris dropped Aiden off for an hour or so while they headed to Verizon to check out new cell phones. I made a pot of veggie soup and we all had lunch when they returned. It was fun having Aiden seat up by the table in the booster like high chair I bought earlier this month at Babies R Us. It straps right onto one of the dining room chairs and works like a charm. Aiden definitely enjoyed his Cheerios while the rest of us enjoyed our soup and fresh brownies for dessert.

Anyway, I got this layout done this morning with pictures that Mark took when he and the girls went to the Detroit Auto Show on opening day last weekend. He and Chris really wanted to see the new Corvette ZR1 and I wanted to make sure I included a picture of the Corvette in the layout. I thought that the picture of the red car was a Corvette. Wrong . . . it's a Dodge Viper. Sorry about that! Got the idea for the layout from my newest Scrapbooks, Etc. that arrived in the mail yesterday. I was looking through it last night in bed and knew that this layout by Tracy Miller was perfect for the 'lifting'. Love the final product!

Sorry this entry is so short today. Have to head on out and buy some milk. Have a great Sunday afternoon everyone!

Look What Came to Live at My House Yesterday . . . .

Can you believe it . . . . an iPhone! I am in heaven!! I can't believe I actually own one!! When they first came out I thought I might like one. Then the idea of switching mobile carriers stopped me . . . I've been with Alltel since day one of cell phone ownership. Just before Christmas I got to hold one in my hot little hands and I was blown away by the color it displayed. Finally decided I wanted one when I found out that my Google calendar could be synced to the iPhone but the price of the phone was stopping me. Anyway, Mark surprised me with one for my birthday!! It is the coolest device and does so, so many neat things. Only problem right now is that I have to have a temporary cell phone number until the end of February when I can port my old number over to AT&T. Oh the trials and tribulations of owning an iPhone!

Here is another layout from my Summer 2007 album I am currently working on. Picture was taken last summer when Kate received some belated birthday gifts from my sister Cathe. The items are part of the new Vera Bradley leather line and coordinate perfectly with Kate's Vera Bradley bags. This layout was inspired by a Mellette Berezoski that Lori had ripped out of an old scrapbooking magazine . . . I love the little details that Mellette always adds to her layouts. Even made my own transparency on this layout . . . wanted to use the definition for happy on the layout and printed it out on a transparency so it could cover both the photo and some cardstock.

Off to play with my new toy . . . I'll post more about this wonderful device tomorrow. Have a fabulous Saturday . . . I plan on it!

Sad Sad Day in the Carpenter Household . . .

Now it's nothing earth shattering but sad nonetheless . . . . Today I gave up my cleaning lady. Okay, stop laughing but it is one of those luxuries that I have enjoyed the past 3 years. Some known but unplanned for bills have popped up . . . can we say real estate taxes . . . and when looking into a savings plan to make up our short-fall, I bravely chose to give up my bi-weekly cleaning lady. Don't want to give up my nail appointments and heaven forbid you touch my scrapping money, so Pat had to go. Now all I need to do is make sure Mark and I set aside time every two weeks to do the cleaning that Pat used to do. Really shouldn't be all that hard but a challenge anyway. Wish us luck!

Thought I would share another layout from my Summer 2007 album. Mark took this picture of me while we were visiting in the Outer Banks in June. The idea for this layout came from this layout by Lisa McGarvey. Really, really like how she adds all these little touches to her layouts.

Guess that is about it from here in Lima. Looks like the temperatures should be in the low single digits tomorrow morning . . . BRRRRRRRRR! We've been freezing in my room this week, so tomorrow should be no different. Have a great evening everyone and stay warm!

Back to the Grind . . .

Well my big scrapping weekend is officially over . . . bummed but ready to get back to the routine. I am off again in 2 short weeks . . . heading down to Columbus for a special ed conference for two days. I will be staying at the Hilton at Easton so I definitely see some more scrapping shopping in my future!

Thought I would show you one more layout I finished up on Sunday. This is a picture of Mark's sister Lynne and Aiden which was taken when we were vacationing in the Outer Banks this past June. Loving all the buttons I used as a "frame" and the Heidi Swapp ghost hearts on the bottom left of the photo. Once again I used a Becky Fleck sketch as my design inspiration for the layout.

Today's Ten On Tuesday is "Ten Things That Were Better "Way Back When", so here goes . . . .

1. First and foremost . . . the price of gas!


2. I probably shouldn't bring this up and I am working on correcting the situation but . . . my weight.


3. Respect in the classroom . . . as a teacher you know I had to add this one in.


4. Paparazzi and the media attention paid to the rich and famous. . . I am sick and tired of hearing about the trials and tribulations of stars and other famous people as they screw up their $100,000,000 lives . . . take that Brittney Spears and Paris Hilton!


5. The presidential election process . . . I actually remember when the campaigning didn't actually start until after Labor Day during an election year!


6. Major League Baseball . . . clean-up the record books and get rid of the steroid driven records set over the past 10 or 12 years!


7. The Today Show . . . not into Meredith Vieira at all . . . take me back to the days for Katie Couric or maybe even Jane Pauley and Tom Brokaw.
8. Customer service . . . I just hate having to call some business now and you have to go through 10 million prompts to end up getting to the wrong person and they really don't seem to give a darn what your problem is anyway.
9. Kids playing outside . . . I remember many a night staying outside until the last possible minute playing ball or some other group activity with the neighborhood kids.
10. Attire . . . I am definitely tired of looking at some teenage girl's boobies. Where are the days when attire was by far more modest and not so sex driven.

There you go . . . made it to ten this week! Gotta get moving . . . lots to do at school today. Looks like our weather this morning is going downhill quickly . . . schools are starting to call in 2 hour delays . . . keep your fingers crossed that we are delayed! Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Trying to Go Green . . .

Mark has started our household on a recycling program. He ordered four of these really nice recycling containers from Plow & Hearth and they arrived just before Christmas. He set them up just outside the laundry room door in the garage and has done all this research on-line as to what materials are recyclable and how we should actually be recycling. So to also get into the "green" mode, I bought these shopping bags from reusablebags.com in the paper bag brown color. For the last week I have carried them around in the backseat of my car and always seemed to forget to carry them into the grocery store with me. Well, tonight I didn't forget and used them for the first time! I'll keep you posted on our going green progress.

Here is another layout I did when I cropped with Lori in Columbus this past weekend. It is actually a scraplift of a layout I found on-line at Becky Fleck's Page Maps website. Totally love the scalloped paper and buttons! In fact, I like the design so much I actually used it for this layout too. The actual Chatterbox papers I used in each layout came from different room collections, so the layouts are not actually identical. Sick, aren't I?

Well I guess that is about it for today. Wrote an IEP tonight for a 10:00 AM meeting I have in the morning for another new student. Don't really know if he is suited for my program at Elida . . . we'll have to discuss it more tomorrow when we meet. Hope you all had a great Monday . . . loved having the day off today! Have a great evening!

Home Again, Home Again . . .

Got back from Columbus and my scrapping weekend around 1:30 this afternoon. Ended up getting 6 layouts completed, so for me it was a pretty productive weekend. Real happy with what I got done including this layout I did with pictures I took at the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach this past summer. Definitely not the colors I normally gravitate to, but I am quite pleased with the final rendition. Started out matting the pictures in a rust color . . . like you see in the brown patterned paper . . . but it just was not doing anything for me. Lori convinced me to switch over to the deep maroon/red color and it was the perfect fix!

Also did this layout about Cathe's and my trip to Maine in August. Love the tags on the left hand side of the layout. Used some older KI patterned papers from the Journey collection in 2004 and cardstock tags from Earth collection back in 2005.

Spent a good part of the afternoon scanning and posting some layouts for the Lifetime Moments WinterFest. Also watched to San Diego Chargers lose to the New England Patriots. Bummer . . . Right now the Packers/Giants game is headed into overtime. Oh my God, does it look cold in Green Bay. Current -4 degrees with a wind chill of -24 degrees. Keeping my fingers crossed that the Packers can pull this off.

Keep warm everyone . . . It's 8 degrees outside here in Lima at the moment. Thank goodness I don't have to worry about getting up tomorrow morning. Have great evening!

7 Minutes to Midnight . . .

and can you believe I am still up! Productive day scrapping today. Actually got 3 layouts totally completed and one about 60% finished. Really like what I got done. Not much else going on . . . I'll try to post again tomorrow. Hope Friday was a great day for you!

T-Minus 24 Hours and Counting . . .

until I am loading the car up for Columbus!! Long day ahead of me today but I am sure it will fly by. Got zero preplanning done last night . . . I think I was asleep by 8:30 PM and I didn't wake-up until 4:45 AM this morning! Have a few more layouts I have ideas swimming around in my head for, so hopefully I will get those put together tonight.

Last night all my plans for preplanning pretty much went flying out of the door when Mark got home and told me that the battery place closed at 5:30. I have noticed over the past month or so that my car was not starting as 'perky' as it had in the past. Then on Tuesday, after it sat out in 17 degree weather all day at work, it really moaned and groaned to start. So, since the battery is just about 5 years old and the prospect of having to call AAA this weekend, after my car sits out in typical January weather all weekend didn't really excite me, I decided it was time to replace the battery. So at 5 o'clock we quickly headed out to the Battery Warehouse. By 5:45 PM, my new battery was installed, my terminals had been cleaned, and my checking account was $67 lighter!

We decided to go to RubyTuesday for dinner . . . hadn't been there in a while. Mark and I split an order of their Ruby Minis hamburgers and a spinach and artichoke appetizer . . . I was very pleasantly surprised how good the hamburgers were! We also split a strawberry cream puff for dessert, which was very tasty but definitely not the healthiest thing to eat. As a side note . . . our server reminded me of Chris Daughtry but with a full head of hair . . . left him a decent tip too.

Well folks, I need to get some photos sent off to Walgreens so I can pick them up after work. Busy, busy at work today getting everything ready for my day off tomorrow, but it is worth it!! I'll try to post while I am in Columbus . . . if not I will catch you on Sunday for sure . . . . have a great Thursday!

Getting Ready for My Big Weekend . . .

Spent a good part of last night preplanning for my scrapping weekend with Lori . . . only one more day of work . . . can't get here fast enough!! My IEP meeting for tomorrow has been postponed . . . very happy about that . . . think I'll head to bed early.

Really thought and thought about yesterday's Ten on Tuesday . . . couldn't come up with anything else . . . sorry.

Guess that is about all I have to say today . . . . have a great evening!

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Movies That Disappointed Me . . .

For this week's list I will do my best to get to ten, but I tend not to watch movies that I think I won't like. So here goes . . . .

1. Sound of Music - Don't know what it was about this movie . . . maybe all the hype . . . maybe so many people saying that they loved it, but I definitely was disappointed when I saw it. Don't get me wrong, I liked the movie but I sure didn't love it.
2. Gone with the Wind - My mom always said that this was one of her favorite movies and how I had wished I would have been able to see it. Then it was re-released when I was maybe in 5th or 6th grade and I was so bored as I sat watching it in the movie theatre one Saturday afternoon.
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey - I remember going to see this with Mark, the first year we were dating, and I just didn't get the point of the movie.
4. Any of the Star Wars movies after the first one - Loved the first installment . . . so unique and innovative for the time. All the rest seemed to be the same story with a little more elaborate special effects.

Gotta get going this morning . . . Come back later . . . I will think on this today. Have a great Tuesday!

What a Pleasant Surprise . . .

when I walked into work this morning and who should be walking down the hall toward my room but . . . . . . . . Marie! I could not believe it, but she was in to sub for my aide, Joyce today! For those of you who might not know it, but Marie was my aide for 5 and a half years. She officially "retired" at the end of the 2005-2006 school year when, due to class sizes and student realignments, we found out I was no longer going to have an aide. So instead of being reassigned, Marie retired. My students must have thought we were crazy, but all we did was talk and laugh all day . . . it was great getting all caught up on what has been happening in her life over the past 18 months. Oh my God, was it fabulous to have her back! I felt like she had never left. All seemed right with the world! I already have her scheduled to come in for another day on January 25th . . . Maybe we won't be talking so much that day . . . Fat chance!

Didn't get any more preplann-ing done yester-day, but I did get this layout done for my Summer 2007 album. It was inspired by a layout Susan at Lifetime Moments did for last Thursday's newsletter. Really in the mood to scrap this week but I know that I need to save my creating for my weekend at Archiver's. Only three more days of work and then I am out of here! Already starting the countdown!

Glad to see the San Diego Chargers win yesterday. My brother, Dick, was ecstatic! Being that he is a Chargers fan, living and working in Indianapolis, should have been a fun day for him at work today! Even though it might seem highly unlikely, I would love to see San Diego go all the way to the Super Bowl. Their next opponent is New England and Tom Brady . . . I'm not going to hold my breath. Not surprised that Dallas lost to the Giants.

Hope everyone had a fabulous Monday. Have a great evening!

Janaury's 12 on 12 . . .

And without further ado here are my 12 photos that I took yesterday . . . .

The pictures include (L to R, top to bottom rows):

1. the time I got up on Saturday morning . . . Hey, I'm an early riser!
2. my scrapping clutter as I "created" Saturday morning
3. our new treadmill
4. Mark in the middle of his weekly Saturday afternoon nap . . . he looked at this picture and asked when the funeral was . . . funny guy!
5. the entrance to our condo complex
6. our patio . . . note the lack of snow . . . it all melted within a week of our last big snow fall
7. my car parked right next to the cart corral at Ray's . . . What, I might add, is what I consider one of the best parking spots in the lot . . . especially on a cold or rainy day!
8. my odometer . . . . 95,704 miles driven since my purchase in April 2002
9. the counter top in the guest bath . . . the picture and the arrangement are new
10. the price of gas at the corner BP. . . $2.99/gallon
11. the wine aisle at Ray's . . . love the look of this department. The store has been remodeled recently and I am amazed at the huge wine section they put in . . . and I don't even drink wine . . . go figure!
12. one of the three arrangements Jude made me for the condo when she was here for Christmas . . . I love its simplicity!

So there you have it . . . my first "12 on 12". Next month the 12th is on a Tuesday, so I should be able to take a number of pictures of "professional" side of my life.

Happy to see the Green Bay Packers win yesterday! Could you believe that snow? That first quarter drove me crazy . . . couldn't believe the Packers were down by 14 points within the first 3 minutes. Great comeback Brett Favre and company! Went to bed before the end of the Jacksonville - New England game . . . I wanted to see Jacksonville pull off the upset, but no such luck.

Another busy week ahead. One of my two new students arrives on Monday, another IEP meeting on Thursday, and then off to Archiver's at Easton in Columbus on Friday to scrap the weekend away! Picking Lori up at 8:15 Friday morning so we can stop by Cord Camera before settling in at Archiver's for the long haul. We are going to be staying at the Residence Inn right behind the store . . . should be a great weekend!

I have really gotten into reality TV over the last couple of years . . . The Amazing Race is one of my favorites and I absolutely LOVE Dancing with the Stars! Also hooked on The Biggest Loser, Survivor . . . can't believe that the 16th one is about to start . . . , and am currently enjoying the dynamics of Celebrity Apprentice . . . talk about having egos . . . my God, Gene Simmons takes the cake! American Idol starts this week so that means I have yet another show to record. Really don't like the first couple of weeks of the show, but I will record them anyway just in case there is something of importance to watch. Like it better when they finally get down to the final 12 . . . it is amazing how the cream always rises to the top on that show.

Well folks, that's enough rambling for today . . . need to finish up a layout and still have to wrap some gifts for this afternoon. Have a great day one and all!

A Sunny Saturday . . .

and all is well in Limaland. Up early this morning and actually got a layout complete this morning. It is a scraplift of a layout by Miranda at Lifetime Moments called Text Me. Took this picture January 2 when we had our first snow of the new year. Hard to believe but the snow didn't even last a week. By the next Monday it was upwards of 60 degrees here in Lima and every last inch of our snow melted.

Since today is January 12, I have decided to take part in a monthly challenge of sorts called "12 on the 12th". The idea is to take 12 pictures on the 12th of every month. I've already taken 8 photos, so I have 4 more to go. Decided that there are 4 pictures that I want to take every 12th; price of gas at BP, my car odometer, time I got up, and the entrance to our condo complex. It will be kind of neat to see how things change throughout the year. I'll try to get my "12 on the 12th" pictures posted in the morning before we head on down to Columbus.

Guess that is about it for today. Still need to get the boy's gifts wrapped and hope to scrap some more this evening while watching football. Started my preplanning for next weekend . . . need to kick it up a notch. Beautiful blue sky and bright sun today . . . loving it! Have a great one everyone!

Oh, My Greasy Lover Bacon . . .

My favorite meal of the day is definitely breakfast and one of my favorite places to eat is a restaurant that has a breakfast buffet, especially one where they make your omelet right to order. But what I really like best about such a buffet is the amount of bacon you can put on your plate! I really enjoy good bacon and even though I know it is not the best thing for you to eat, I can't help but load up on it whenever it is available . . . . hum, maybe that is part of the reason I need to diet. So with my confusion of my love for bacon, please enjoy the following video I found on YouTube . . .



Things are going real well with my new aide, Joyce. It is amazing how much we think alike when it comes to the behavior of our students. I am definitely glad to be working with someone who believes that all behaviors have consequences . . . no matter if they are positive or negative consequences. Now if we could just get our students to realize this, our job would be much easier. We have a new student arriving on Monday. It will be interesting to see how he fits into the classroom mix.

My big project this weekend is preplanning for my scrapping getaway down in Columbus next weekend. Think I will preplan pages for my Summer 2007 album I am working on. Really enjoy working on the 8" x 8" pages. Also heading down to Columbus on this Sunday afternoon to celebrate a belated Christmas with Logan, Skyler, and Grayson. They were Texas over Christmas visiting their mom, so they did not spend Christmas Day with us. Should be a fun time . . .

Well I am off to preplan. Hope you enjoyed the video. Have a great Friday evening everyone!

So What Would Your Names Be?

Found this on-line this morning and it cracked me up!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & first car) Dum-Dum Volkswagon
2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Mint Chocolate Chip Oreo
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) Ccar
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Blue Dog
5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) CarCa
6. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Yellow Pepsi
7. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Elmer Leon
8. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Johanson Juneau
9. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, favorite flower) Summer Tulip
10. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Peach Sweaterie
11. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Oatmeal Maple
12. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Scrapbooking Clear Skies Tour
13. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Ann Royal Oak
14. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Mae Noel

So what would your names be?

Oh by the way . . . Everyone at work liked the new haircut. I'm still not too sure . . .

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Hump Day . . .

Middle of the week . . . it is downhill from here! And to top it all off . . . today is an early release day which means students leave at 12:55 PM! Staff still has to stay until 2:55 PM, but the time to get work completed, uninterrupted, is heavenly. Also on the agenda this afternoon . . . I am trying out a new salon/stylist to get my hair cut. Even though Steve has been cutting my hair for over ten years now, I am in the mood for a change. Hope I am satisfied . . . .

My new aide, Joyce, starts this morning too. Got the room are all arranged so she can have her own area. She has been working for the county for just about a year now and has had an assignment at our off site severe behavior unit. Hope she likes coming over to Elida . . . I think she will be pleasantly surprised with how quiet it is in my room. Knock on wood . . . I honestly don't deal with a whole lot of negative behaviors in my room, mainly just students being stubborn. Seems as if once they realize who is running the show, we have very few, if any, physical and verbal altercations.

Thought I would post another layout I did over the weekend. I think this picture of my dad was taken sometime in the mid to late 50s. Since his birthday was December 24th, we always had a big family get-together on Christmas Eve. Loved those family times together! And it never seemed to fail, but my dad would always fall asleep before the last guest had left for home. Take note of the beer cans stacked in the bottom left of the photo . . . sure hope those were placed there for the picture and not what Bob had consumed for the evening! But then again, even though I hate to admit it, he probably could have drank them all on his own anyway.

Hey everyone, have a great Hump Day!

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Best Memories from 2007 . . .

Since I am back in the blog business, thought I would start right back in with Ten On Tuesday again. This week it is "Best Memories from 2007" . . . actually it was best moments but I like memories better, so here goes . . . .

1. This is an easy one . . . watching Aiden being born and seeing how much he has become part of our family in nine short months
2. Having Kate tell me that she passed the last part of her Praxis exams . . . so now she could become fully certified to teach in Ohio
3. Eating dinner at the Blue Coral Seafood & Spirits restaurant in Newport Beach, CA . . . possibly the best meal I have ever eaten in a restaurant in my life
4. All the traffic jams we managed to sit in while vacationing throughout the summer . . . not really fun times, but memorable nonetheless
5. Staying at the Beachcomber Motel in San Clemente, CA
6. Returning to Maine with Cathe and revisiting the Kingsleigh Inn in Southwest Harbor and Acadia National Park
7. Having my brother Dick visit for Thanksgiving . . . Now that he is living in Indianapolis hopefully this will happen more often
8. Spending Christmas right here in Lima with my sister Judy and her son Josh flying in from San Diego
9. Having the rental agency cancel our Outer Banks rental because the house was not finished yet, 10 days before we were supposed to leave on vacation
10. The last day of the school year when all the teachers stand outside and wave good-bye as the buses pull out of the parking lot . . . Let the summer begin!

So there you have it, in no particular order I might add, my most memorable memories from 2007. So what are yours?

Woke up to 59 degrees again this morning! Can't believe it. Yesterday we broke the record high temperature for January 7 here in Lima . . . wouldn't be surprised if we did it again today. The rain and thunderstorms are supposed to move in later today and then they are calling for snow again this weekend. Oh, the joys of living in Lima!

Time to begin thinking of my Tuesday school day activities. Both of my students were back to school yesterday and for a Monday, it was a pretty smooth day. Oh by the way, Ohio State lost the national championship game to LSU last night . . . should make for an interesting day of moaning and groaning at work today.

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Monday Morning and All Is Well . . .

Or as well as it can be for a Monday morning. Yester-day I scrapped the day away while watching football on TV, which I haven't done in a long time. Really enjoyed myself and got two layouts finished for my "Book of Me" album. Did the above layout about my favorite movies. I was inspired by a layout that my friend Lori did about both her and her husband's favorite movies. Real happy with how it turned out. Love the color combination of the pink and brown and how I was able in incorporate some way too old KI paper (October 2005) from the Beautiful collection. Also made the title using my newest font for my Revolution cutting system, Beauty Queen. Love it! Oh by the way, glad to see San Diego win their wild card game. Also, bummed to have Pittsburg lose on Saturday night. Looks like "Big Ben" almost ecked out a win, but no such luck this year.

Busy week ahead of me. IEPs to write, new aide arriving, and meetings to attend. Thank goodness Wednesday is an early release day . . . students go home two hours early but the staff has to stay. I never seem to get as much as I would like done on these days but it is great to have the time to myself.

My computer/Internet Explorer has been acting for the last couple of months so Mark spent a good four or five hours uninstalling and reinstalling everything this weekend. Now it seems to be working like a charm. It is definitely a plus to be married to a guy who earns his living 'fixing' programs on computers . . .

Woke up this morning and the temperature outside is 59 degrees . . . craziness for the 7th of January! All the snow we got last Wednesday is gone, including the snow piles around the driveway. Guess that is it for today . . . Ohio State plays for the national championship tonight. Hope they win so I don't have to listen to a rehash of the whole game tomorrow at work. But then if they lose, at least I can say that Michigan won their bowl game!

Have a good one everyone!

Sad but True . . .

Yesterday my sister Cathe sent me the following joke . . .

"Last night my sister and I were sitting in the den and I said to her, 'I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle to keep me alive. That would be no quality of life at all. If that ever happens, just pull the plug.'

So she got up, unplugged the computer, and threw out my Pepsi."

I guess, if the shoe fits, I must wear it. This is so me!

Scrapping the day away for the first time in a long time. Gotta get back to creating. Hope you are having a great Sunday!

I Could Eat Him Up . . .

said the loving Nana! Thought I would post this layout I did at my weekend crop I went to in November up in Novi, MI. It is a layout for my Autumn Leaves/Basic Grey 2006 album that I have working away on for the last 2 years. I had hoped to have the album done by the end of 2007, but sadly to say, that is not to be. Anyway back to talking about the actual layout, which by the way was inspired by a layout made by Leslie Lightfoot, whose style I absolutely love . . . Boy, that girl can work with embellishments! . . . is a picture of Aiden that Leslie took back in September. Isn't he the cutest little boy you have ever seen? I even used this photo to make stamps from photostamps.com up for Mark's mom, June, for Christmas. (Shh, don't tell, but my mom will also be getting a sheet for her birthday in March too.) Love, love spending time with him and actually watching him grow, right before our very eyes!

My sister, Cathe, has really taken off with my, via Ali Edwards, idea of having a single word to focus on during 2008. She is getting a number of her friends to also embrace the idea and it has been interesting seeing what everyone is coming up with. After hearing about all the different words that people are choosing, I thought about possibly changing mine, but I have decided to stick with calm. Actually, it is working quite well for me. Yesterday, I was in the middle of a phone conversation with a parent, and the parent simply did not want to listen to what I had to say. So after mentally telling myself to remain calm, I was able to refocus our discussion . . . Didn't help with our discussion, but it sure as heck helped me out. Check out some of the words in the sidebar, that some people I know have chosen as their word. So come on, think of a word . . . It is amazing what a difference one word can make! Let me know what word you come up with and I will add it to the list.

Well folks, time to get it in gear. Have to head off to the grocery store . . . the cupboard is bare . . . and get some things accomplished around here. Also hope to get a ton of scrapping done for Lifetime Moments WinterFest Challenges . . . gotta earn those discounts, you know! Overcast, rainy, and a high of 39 degrees expected today. A perfect day to scrap! Have a great day everyone!

A Historic First . . .

of sorts. First, let me set up this historic event for you. Yesterday, after a 2-hour delay, I actually made it into my classroom 20 minutes earlier than normal . . . not a "first" but I have certainly gotten a tad lazy lately and have been squeaking into my classroom right under the wire. One other little fact needs to be mentioned here, and just to let you all in on my dirty little secret, so far this year I have gone from having 3 students on my roster, to having 4 students, back to 3, and finally, about 6 weeks ago, down to 2. So low and behold yesterday, by 9:45 AM I had received a phone call that one of my students would be spending a short vacation at our local juvenile detention center . . . definitely not a "first" since I teach kids with behavior problems and this happens at least once a year to one or more of my students. Then by 9:50, when my other student should have arrived, he was a no show. Folks, that meant I had zip, zero, nada students to educate yesterday! So that's my first for you, not earth shattering or anything major like finding a cure for cancer, but a historic first for me nonetheless.

Now don't think I sat around playing with my thumbs all day, I actually got a whole lot accomplished. Over the next couple of weeks I will be getting 2 more students and because of some of the disciplines these 2 students will be bringing with them, I am once again going to have an aide. So most of yesterday was spent rearranging my room, moving bookcases, and generally getting ready for 3 additional bodies. Over break I was wondering when I was going to have time to get this work done and lo and behold, there it was!

Well, I had best get moving. Friday is always Jean Day at work, so it's already shaping up to be a great day! Have a good one everyone!

2 Hour Delay . . .

Elida Local Schools is currently on a 2 hour delay . . . Life is good! Don't really want to see a cancellation because we have already used 3 of our 5 days this year . . . would hate to have to make up days again this year. However, with only two days of school this week, I wasn't planning on accomplishing all that much this week anyway. Better to ease back into this teaching thing again, right, than to jump right back in?

Thought I would start posting some of the layouts I have completed lately. The Cousins layout above is one I did for my Summer 2007 album. When Cathe was here visiting back in August, we drove up to Michigan for a couple of days. Met up with our cousin, Alice, and her daughter, Amy, for lunch one day . . . good times were had by all. Really like this picture that was taken of the four of us, so I took the picture, removed the color, and then changed it into sepia. Used an older Tara Whitney layout I found in Simple Scrapbooks magazine as my inspiration . . . real happy with how this turned out. By the way, Amy is standing behind Cathe, Alice, and me (L to R).

Ended up still getting my nails done yesterday but still need to do something about my hair. Ugh! Oh, by the way, Leslie had to remind me about my word for the year, calm, yesterday as I was ranting and raving about posting to Blogspot. Couldn't get it to look the way I wanted and I was getting a bit upset. Old habits are hard to break . . .

Guess that is about it for today . . . have a good one!

Snowy Day and Home Bound . . .

Home bound by choice that is . . . . Had a small snow storm pass through Lima last night, dumping about 3+ inches of snow on the ground and driving our temperatures down into the low teens. Anyway, Mark asked if he could drive my car to work today, and since I don't drive the Corvette, I"ll just sit at home today.

Had to cancel two appointments . . . my weekly nail appointment and a haircut/color appointment, which I am in desperate need of . . . but it is worth it for a day home all by myself. Currently sitting here listening to Kenny Chesney's new CD, Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates. Loving the peace and quiet!

Also hope to get some scrapping time in today. Going to take part in the WinterFest Challenge at Lifetime Moments again this year. Love having different challenges each day to get my creative juices flowing. Haven't scrapped much since my weekend getaway with Lori back in November. Need to kick it up a notch and get some layouts done!

Back to work tomorrow. A 2-hour delay would be great . . . pathetic aren't I? Oh, the life of a teacher! Hope everyone is keeping themselves warm and cozy. Have a great day!

New Year, New Blog . . . .

Well, once again I "rang" in the New Year by sleeping right through it . . . quite the party animal, right? In an effort to save some pennies, I will be giving up my TypePad blog the end of January and have found a new home right here. Since my attempt to blog more often last year was definitely not achieved, I figured it would be better to switch to a free site instead of paying for something I really wasn't using. So here I will now reside . . .

To start off the new Year, I have chosen my "word" for the year. Ali Edwards came up with this idea last year about choosing a single word to use as your word for the year . . . something you would like to achieve and/or live your life by. Didn't do a word last year, but thought it would be a good idea to have one this year. So without further adieu, my word for 2008 is calm.

calm (adj) freedom from agitation; tranquillity; serenity

Needless to say, I get far too upset about quite a few things. It is definitely time for me to calm down and not let things, especially those that I have no control over, get to me. My sisters, Judy and Cathe, have also chosen words for the year . . . Judy chose focus and Cathe chose balance. Great words for both of them! So what is your word?

Well folks, that is about it for today. Have a great one!