Another day older and less in debt.

Today is a good day to look back at the past year. Today is my birthday. I'm another day (year) older and still feeling good. I'm also a little less in debt. I paid off my car. I've been working really hard to get our finances in check and it is working. Now from what I learned a long time ago is that I take all of that payment and move it to another debt.

So my goal is to pay off our debt by my next birthday, if not sooner. My motivation is that I'd like to go on a small vacation this summer and I really need new furniture. I've got the urge to start looking, but don't want to find something and be disappointed if I can't afford it.

Well anyway, I'm glad my car is paid off and I've got my health.

Putting the New Year in a positive perspecitive!

Today, I read a blog from The Scrap Artist. I stumbled across a blog post on their Feel Good Monday theme. I found the post called "The Paradoxical Commandments" quite interesting. It somehow puts into perspective that even if you're trying to live a positive life by doing good things that there will be those to bring you down, but just do good anyway!

Here they are.

The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.


Does it help you feel good about all you do? I don't know why, but it helps to confirm to me that all I'm doing is really the right thing, so I need to try to keep doing all I can.

Happy New Year!

Getting in that Christmas spirit!

Already, this isn't usually me not at all. I'm usually a bah humbug, but not this year, I'm wanting to do so many fun things with my students and I'm getting in that crafting mood too. I want to sew myself a fleese coat. I'm searching for some fun, inexpensive decorating projects too. I found one I really love today on Martha Stewart.


I've got a pass through window from my kitchen to my living room. I can just imagine this little decoration sitting on that little windowsill.

I'm trying to get my Christmas list of items to buy all planned out. There isn't much extra cash here this year, so I want to make my gifts extra special.

Hope you're getting in the gifting and decorating mood too!

Be happy, stay healthy!

A great beginning to a school year

the first quarter of the year is over. 1 down, 3 to go. I'm quite a lucky girl this year, I've got a very managable class size, 20 now and I've got really, REALLY nice kids. People are amazed how nice, polite, and kind they are. A total 180 from last year. Last year there we so many low kids who had so many needs. There were bullies, horribly misbehaved students, clicky girls who would get their older sisters to beat the other girl up.

This year, I'm trying to be home earlier, keep my mind on other things rather than school. I'm enjoying being home at night and not having to run from one teaching job to another. That being said, not teaching at the college this semester has put quite a dent into the ole checkbook though. I keep trying to believe that God is telling me that less is more sometimes. Use what you have and enjoy people and not things.

It has been a stressful start to the school year in other ways. Don wound up with a kidneystone. He needed surgery and was in the hospital almost 3 days. He had two other surgeries and we still think there are still stone fragments in his kidney.
After that, he was getting out of his car and his foot slipped on some wet pavement and leaves. He reached around into the car to try to catch himself from really falling. When he reached back into the car to grab inside, he ripped his intercoastal muscle and dented the cartledge between two of his ribs. Now after visiting the urilogist again for a check up, they found he has double hernias and he'll be headed to the surgeon next week for a consultation. We need to have this done before the end of the year for deductible purposes. So it appears that sometime soon, he'll be having another surgery.

Ok, so I know you take the good with the bad. I think that it's just crazy. When something slows down in my ife that something else gets crazy. I've been trying to knit to keep busy and now I've also pinched a nerve in my hand. I'm trying to not knit quite as much to try to let the swelling go down. It's been a couple weeks and it's not working either.

So now that you've gotten an update, I want to say thanks for stopping by!
I'm always glad to see a comment from a friend or two!

Peace people!

It's that busy, busy time of year

That time of year from the last week of August through December seems to always be busy. Then it is again from April through mid June. But right now, I'm busy but not crazy busy. I know, so unusual for me.

I've been extremely tired lately. I mean on Friday night, I was falling asleep at 8:30 with the laptop on my lap. I can't stay awake past 10 on any night. I don't know if I'm trying to fight off any germs floating around, my diet, or something else. I know I just worry a lot about tiredness because of my previous experience with a close call with lymphoma. That was one of the symptoms I exhibited.

I've got a ton of papers to grade and the first quarter is almost over already. We, my grade level team, is in charge of planning October's positive behavior celebration, and report cards are due soon.

Well I'm going to split. I think I'm going to get a jumpstart on getting ready to go out tonight with Don and some friends.

Also, I don't think I mentioned that it's been about a month since Don had a kidney stone and finally, just this week he's been almost completely pain free.

Hope all is well with you. Enjoy this fall season. The trees have been beautiful. Some trees have been two colors, one color on the outside and the inside close to the trunk is a different color. I've seen trees that look rose and pink colored and just a wonderful mix of colors. We've had winter weather already and there wasn't any heat at school all week. I attribute that to me also being tired. When I get warmed up, I think I just get extremely tired.

Well hope you have a good week!

We interupt your regularly scheduled life...

to help you remember that God's in charge...not you!

I found that out Friday. We had discussed dinner and a video, a quiet Friday night at home. A trip to meet my dad at the stained glass store Saturday, and just a calm weekend. That didn't happen. A wrench, or should I say scapel and a kidney stone got thrown into the mix.

I got a call at lunch that my wonderful hubby called the school office to report he was on his way to the hospital. Not sure why or by whom, but he was on his way. The message was to call on his cell. Good plan if the dumb hospital would have had cell signals. So after a phone call to the hospital, transfered to the ER, then to the triage, then to a nurse's phone, I finally found out what I suspected...a kidney stone.

I've never seen anyone in so much pain, personally. I do have to say that I'm a little horrified that when they give someone a drug and it's not working, we got the answer, "Sorry, you have another hour before the next dose." Obviously, although super strong, not effective on the pain from a kidney stone. He went about 7 hours without effective pain control. I would liken it to heavy labor without any pain drugs. That I have done twice, so I do understand the pain of that. Many who have had babies and kidney stones say however, the kidney stone is worse.

After a good dose of new medicine from the urlogist, the pain was gone within 10 minutes not to return for over 24 hours. Now that was some good stuff!

So Don had surgery, a stint, half the stone come out, and is now finally home after almost 3 days in the hospital. I then had to juggle my house, my son, my dogs, the trips to the hospital, the phone calls all around, and then the trip to the pharmacy for all the drugs. Thankfully, Don's home and on the road to recovery, tomorrow is Monday, and I can get back to my regularly scheduled life.

This makes me Very happy!

Ever since I saw these wind turbines in Copenhagen, for some reason they make me happy. I guess it's green energy and sustainable.



Now in Illinois there are two large wind farms. They are about an hour west of Chicago. I was shocked at seeing them as we passed them on our way out of town, and knew I needed some photos to add to my wind turbine photos from Copenhagen. These were not active yet. Some had no blades, some had 1 or 2 blades, and some were fully built, but not yet active. I can't wait to drive down by there again when they are doing their thing.

I kept looking around thinking...a turbine could be there. Now, I understand these photos are far from professional. They haven't even been edited. They are sotc or straight out of the camera. Also note...they were taken while driving 85 MPH. Not be me...I took them, but wasn't driving! OMG that would be scary to think I was driving that fast AND was looking off the road taking pictures. Enjoy!

a last weekend before school getaway

Last weekend we dropped the dogs off at my mom's and headed for a short weekend getaway to somewhere in the midwest. We went to see Don's dad's grave since it was the 5 year anniversay of his death. We saw his only living male relative from his dad's side of the family. We also went to see a national monument. Here are some pictures. Guess to see if you can figure out where we went.









We were in St. Louis. Don's family has lived there for a very long time. His uncle has actually lived in his house for 45 years. I had only been to St. Louis for his dad's funeral and burial. In all the times Don's been there, he's never been to the Arch. The three of us got to enjoy a little afternoon of fun seeing the Arch together for the first time.

Some photos to share

I still don't have any photos of my kitchen redo, but I have a few fun other photos. First are a few of where my son lives at the university. He and 2 other guys have moved into an apartment.






A great shot from out the back door of the place where he got a job YES!!! I said got a job! Also of one of the taller university buildings.


Here are two helpful movers taking a rest, Brian and his girlfriend.