My trip to ANYWHERE in the World is booked!

It's been 3 years in the making and I've finally decided where this trip to ANYWHERE in the World was going to be. I've decided on a 10 day cruise to the Northern Baltic Capitals. Actually it's 10 places I would have never guessed I would have ever gone to....Ever! Princess Cruises calls it Scandinavia and Russia. I call it a once in a lifetime trip to see places that I've only seen on tv and through pictures from my girlfriend Susanna.

This is the itineary for the trip. We start and end in Copenhagen. We head to Stolkholm,Sweden; Helsinki,Finland; St. Peterburg, Russia; Tallinn, Estonia; Gdansk, Poland; and Oslo, Norway. Although I know how great each place is going to be, I'm really, REALLY excited to head to Finland to meet my friend Susanna. That is going to be one great shore excursion. It won't be one of those cruise trips, we're going to be escorted around Helsinki by a native. We've got Susanna booked to be our private tour guide. I'll have to let her know way ahead of time what we want to see. I especially want to buy some great yarn in Finland. The ladies at the knit/yarn shop have told me how great Finnish yarn is.

Needless to say I'm super excited and really feel like I need one of those tear off one a day countdown calendars to count the number of days until we leave. My mom tried to get me worried when I asked her if she put the deposit down and she tried to make a little joke by saying, "Oh I forgot." It didn't work, not in the least bit. We are working on determining flights and if we are going to arrive a day early in Copenhagen or take a red-eye and get there early enough to board the ship early as possible.

My job...Passport. I need to really get on that this week. I've been putting it off and should have done it over winter break but I didn't. I was thinking about getting my pictures taken tomorrow night but we've just had a winter storm warning issued for our area starting at midnight tonight only to get cold, and blizzard-like as the day goes on. I know we can't control the weather but today I said it's been a more like normal winter with the cold and snow but I didn't mean that because today was 40 that I wanted more below zero cold and blizzard-like conditions!

Well considering I was falling asleep in the rocker about a half an hour ago then had to quick make Don a grocery list so he could shop early tomorrow before the weather crashes and had to get two envelopes ready to be mailed off I should really sign off and get to bed. The earlier I get up and leave the more paper work I can get done at work. I can grade some papers and get the scores entered into the computer.

If you have horrible weather tomorrow, please be safe. Hope you have a great week. Caio!

Happy Birthday to Me!

All dressed in pink with my beautiful lavender, green & pink Burberry scarf around my neck to keep me warm I headed out to the knitting shop to take another knitting lesson. Now I can knit, purl, increase and decrease. I even got some yummy yarn on sale for another scarf. Got a wonderful voicemail from my good friend Marybeth who sang happy birthday to me. Went out for pizza with my family and my sister made me german chocolate cupcakes instead of a cake. It was nice to have everyone there although things keep changing in my family. My parents are trying to settle up things on their divorce before they go to court.

We did have some good news today, my brother got a new job. He used to work for Guilda Club but wasn't happy there and left right before Christmas and jobs in his field of grants and fundraising don't open up that frequently. He did find a job and is still interviewing with another company which has a bigger position if it works out. Until then, the new one is good.

More good news is that Don asked his new boss for his old job back and he got it! This is a good thing because he's got more freedom and flexibility. Considering Don can't be tied down and needs to move and likes different tasks rather than just very similiar tasks it is a terrific thing that he's so highly thought of to be given his old job back. He was under so much less stress, for the most part, when he wasn't chained to a center or to the marketing company. I pray this is what makes him happy and more relaxed.

We did get bad news today. You know you always get the good with the bad. Today my aunt called my mom and said my uncle has been diagnosed with esophogile cancer. It hasn't spread but he will have surgery, feeding tube, radation, and chemo. This is so sad because they retired a few years ago and have just been starting to enjoy their retirement. My uncle is such a quiet man but has such a presence when he's around. He'll sneak out and you'll see him filling up the bird feeders so the birds will keep coming around. This is just awful news because 2 years ago my aunt beat breast cancer now instead of enjoying life they're back into the cancer routine.
If you see it within yourself could you please say a prayer for my Uncle Dick. He's taught my kids so much and my aunt and uncle are like another set of grandparents for my kids. My kids know gun safety and the real reason to use guns instead of seeing how criminals use them thanks to my uncle.


My uncle is the man on the left, my dad is on the right. This was taken at my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary party.

Well I think I'm going to hop off here now and try to knit a bit more. Don got to come have pizza at the restaurant with us but had to go back and close up the facility. Bummer! He probably won't be home for an hour and a half or two hours. So there's probably nothing else we're going to do tonight for my birthday.

Hope you had an enjoyable day today, mine was pretty good considering I grew another year older. LOL I have to share...when my students asked how old I was going to be today, I said 27! One girl says, "oh my mom is 27 too!" OMG they believed me! So today I'm 27! Tomorrow I'll decide if I go back to my regularly scheduled age.

Peace, love and happiness!

To some it's just an extra day off

but to me having Martin Luther King's birthday off is important. I was just over a year old when he was assassinated so the whole civil rights thing was not part of my life. But as I get older and see our world changing I keep learning more and more about civil rights and Dr. Martin Luther King.

What I find even more amazing is how much kids love learning about him. We watched a movie this week at school called My Friend Martin. The kids sit rivited for almost an hour just watching and watching. They know a lot and their hearts are still pure enough to say how much good he did and how treating people equally is so important.

I find I enjoy learning more about him. This year we have a new reading series and there is a story called My Brother Martin. That will be up for reading next week. We are also reading a book about immigrants and how some treated people didn't like them, but then that changes.

So on Monday if you are off or even if you aren't off, stop to think about how life could still be if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. didn't fight for equality for all people.

Learning isn't always easy

For someone who catches on to things fairly easily somethings, like knitting, are not coming so easily. For Christmas, I asked for a gift certificate in which I could take knitting lessons. I thought I had a good rhythm for it and knew what I was doing but it seems that I don't know how to fix a mistake. I have some idea of what I did wrong, but I don't know how to take the stitches off my needle and put them back onto the first needle.

I have another class next week so I'll keep plugging away. I know when the scarf is finished it will look really neat because of the yarn, but if I could only get to a point where I don't make a mistake and feel I can get beyond 5-6 rows.

Any tips or good knitting sites to help me?

I've got a zillion and one things that need to be done so this will be a short post but I will leave you with a photo of my first stab at knitting.

The last blog before my vacation ends

I'm kind of whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa vacation is over and kind of yeah it's time to return to work. I've been dreaming about work for a few days and I think I'm a bit more relaxed and inspired to make sure things go well and the kids really start to learn. I almost get anxious to get back after winter break because there is always so much growth and maturity that seems to happen with a lot of the kids after this two weeks off. I chalk it up to the fact that their brains get to rest and take all that they've learned and finally gets to sort it all into the different files where it belongs and then connects with what was already there. It is not always as significant a change in 4th graders but when I taught 1st grade it was astounding. Those who were on the verge of beginning to read come back so ready and you go "yes" they got it.

Being back at work means that my schedule is more structured. Food is so much less accessible. That's a good thing for me. Although I didn't really gain weight over the winter holiday I'm now in the mode that I have to keep going and it's almost like a new start. A new start that MUST include more trips to the gym. I guess I just need to super structure my time so that I leave work at 4 and then on certain days I just hit the gym before I come home. Don says he'll go with me, but I can't count on that.

In weight watchers losing 10% is the first big milestone. I know that losing weight slowly is important in the long run but I'm hoping that by the end of January I'll be able to acheive that 10% goal. That is why the gym has got to become so important. I think I have 14 pounds to go before that 10%. I really think I could lose it but have to understand that if my body can't go so fast it will come off after that.

I heard this quote at a WW meeting and it really stuck with me. It is hard to lose 100 pounds 1 time, but it is easier to lose 1 pound 100 times.

I think with the nice weather, I'll try to go out and take a walk. Almost too muddy to walk the dogs but I can grab my ipod and go.

Toodles

One Little Word

Does this let you know my one little word?? Yes, I've decided to choose Believe. I know this will help me focus on my relationship with God. It will help me believe in myself, and I know it will also help me in teaching. I often hear from my son, "no one ever believes me." I hope this will help me look at him in a more honest way. It's just a great word and it found me rather than me finding it. I think that is what I was looking for.

Did anyone else pick one little word??

It's a new year

2008! OMG each year goes by faster and faster. 2007 has been a difficult health year for some in my family. We are praying for a better year healthwise. But I'm not looking back in reflection, I'm looking forward with hope and belief that this year will bring many good things.

I've been trying to decide where I want to go on my "trip to anywhere" and I've decided that I want to go on a Northern Baltic Capitols cruise. My mom and I have been looking into things, have contacted a cruise specialist, have got some prices and now have a few more questions before booking the trip. We are looking for a mid-June to early July date. I'm so excited to finally take this trip.

Next I've been trying to decide upon resolutions for 2008. I can't say that I've picked anything just quite yet, but I've decided that organization is or upmost importance. I read something today about the OHIO way of thinking. This seriously peaked my interest and kept reading a comment from a poster on Ali Edward's blog about the OHIO way of thinking. I was wondering is this something I already know considering I was born in Ohio. Come to find out OHIO means "Only Handle it Once." I love this! I didn't make it to the office supply store or to Ikea to find some desk organizational things but before the week is over I'll have a few new bins to divide things into pay, file, or read later.

I know my mom will be going through some changes this year with her and my dad's divorce becoming finalized so I sent her the link to Ali Edward's blog. Ali talked about picking one little word to focus on, to mediate upon, and reflect upon throughout the year. I'm narrowing my list of words down and two keep coming to the front of my brain. The two are believe and accomplish. I'm really focused on accomplishing what I start and I have so many little projects that need finished that the word is important. The more I started just letting things happen today the word believe kept popping up. I'll have it narrowed down soon.

Also today I started on my year long journey to read Simple Abundance. It kind of goes along with the word believe. I need to find happiness from within and enjoy what life has already given me. Have you read it? I love that each page is chalked full of inspiring things.

I don't know if I can commit to getting my life organized, reading simple abundance, keeping my one little word forward in my thoughts and a 365 challenge but how absolutely cool would it be to have a year's worth of photographs to remember 2008 by? I've found a one 365 challenge and Ali posted this one.

I did though take one picture today. I'm also contemplating on gratitude blog. So many decisions and so little time.

Well I'm going to get to bed and let my head rest. So many things are swirling thru it. Lots of snow here yesterday and today and now temps have plumetted so hope you are warm and snuggly whereever you are.

Peace, Health, Love and Happiness to you in 2008!