I'd love to win this contest

that is if I wasn't already a member of Victoria's creative team!



Victoria is giving away this beautiful kit for free at here at her website! Besides the freebie, that was part of the Little Dreamer Design appprentice contest, Victoria is also holding a contest. If you create a page with 80% of the Chirpi products, post it in the gallery, and win, you'll receive 3 months of new product for free!
The details are at the website above!

Hurry and get your submissions in because Victoria's stuff is really beautiful and versitile! I'm sure you'll love it!

Sadness in our family

My Uncle Dick was diagnosed with esophaguial cancer just after the first of the year. He'd been having radiation and chemo to reduce the tumor in order to have surgery to remove it. It was localized and wasn't any where else. Then earlier this week he wasn't eating, drinking or sleeping too well. So when he went for the chemo they checked his heart and things didn't seem right so they took him for an EKG. They admitted him into the hospital then his lungs shut down. They assumed that cancer had migrated to his lungs although it could have been fluid or a blood clot. Later that day they were going to do a CT scan to confirm what was wrong with his lungs. They told my aunt and cousins to call hospice because he probably had a week or so. They took him down for the CT scan and he died during the test. This was so sad because everything seemed to be progressing forward towards remission and then his heart just didn't make it.

He was a gentle man who cared about nature and doing the right thing. He taught my boys a lot. My boys really enjoyed spending time with him. He was like another grandfather to my boys and I know this is really difficult for them. My aunt is going to have a real tough time I can just feel it. She and my uncle had spent 50 years with one another. They were finally both retired and before now were supposed to be enjoying their time to do things and relax. Unfortunately God had other plan.

Here is my aunt & uncle at their 50th anniversary.

Ever know what you're doing is right but it just doesn't feel right?

I'm kinda right there, right now. I know that if I'm going to make more money and use my new reading specialist certification and master's degree I will probably have to change school districts. Problem is, I'm not totally sure I want to move, but there isn't the "perfect" job there for me. Don't get me wrong, I work my butt of and do make a fairly good (for a teacher) dime. I am finding that as each year passes the amount of problems that arise with the kids keep getting more and more difficult. For example I have one student who doesn't do homework, lost a library book, had a younger sibling rip pages out of his science book, and now has to work off the money owed to the school because mom avoids meeting with us at all costs. She doesn't return phone calls, she doesn't come to conferences, she won't return notes, nothing. So her son will have to work with the custodians for 2 months to work off the debt.

Now things like that tell me I can't stress over it and maybe should move. The commute of 45 minutes to an hour every day is tedious. I have to leave about 1.5 hours early on a snowy day. The lack of substitutes in our district often makes us internal sub and lose planning periods. I'm unsure about other things too.

Now I know this is where God put me for a reason, and that he's had me get my master's degree in reading for a reason. Now I just need him to tell me what the next plans are. I know, not an easy request; sometimes it's even harder to hear the answer.

Well I know that this is probably the time to move districts and change jobs primarily because if I stay too much longer with my education and years of experience that I won't get credit for my experience and I'll be too expensive to hire. So I've been revamping my resume and I've been starting to fill out the online applications. I'll tell you, most of these are 13 pages long! That's including the pages of questions. Each of the two applications I've been working on have 10, yes 10 essay questions. Luckily you can start the application and return to it. You can also cut and paste your responses from word to the application. Well, that is where I am. I've been trying to come up with the strongest, yet concise answers that showcase the best of me. Not easy I'll tell ya.

This is just one of those things I hate doing. I'm usually a really loyal employee. I do what ever I can to make it the best place to work. I'm a team player and there are people I love working with. The atmosphere where I work is sometimes like a roller coaster though. We are under the microscope from the state and that's hard because we keep jumping from here, there, to someplace else to find what is best for the students. But that leads to doing so much "extra" stuff that there's hardly time to teach what we need to teach.

I guess I just need someone to tell me, Laura you're doing what you need to do, or Laura this is the time. I need to listen to God because he's got the plan, but I don't hear what he's saying. I know he's probably doing some talking through others and I'm trying to listen but the words are clear. What do you do when you're trying to listen but can't tell what is being said?

I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed I think because there is so much to do and when looking for teaching jobs it is quite often like jumping through hoops. That is what I call it and it almost perfectally describes what happens. You have to do this, then do that, then do this again, then do more of that. We need this and that and then even more.

If you are my messagener please shout it loud and clear as to what I'm supposed to be doing! God you know my hearing is going so please make my sign loud and clear.

If anyone has any suggestions or words of wisdom, please let me know.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Spring Break

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Spring!

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! More snow. We are under another winter storm warning and the forcast says around 5 inches. What is going on here Mother Nature?

Today is Good Friday! As a Christian I cannot be thankful enough that Jesus died for my sins. I've been so blessed and I'm so grateful I live in a country where I can believe what I want, express myself as I want, and can openly practice and discuss my religion. There are so many that can't.

Today is also the first day of spring break! Ahhhhhh, yes it's been a very stressful time at school since we returned from winter break. We are finished with ISATs (state testing) and I'm hoping to get around to more science and social studies. Last week we did a TIMS science investigation and disected flowers looking at all the parts. Drat, I forgot to bring home the flowers we didn't use, bummer.

I also stayed at work late yesterday, so late I almost forgot and was almost really late for my eye exam. I did get all the tedious papers graded and the scores entered into the computer. Yahoo!! With the eye exam, nothing's really changed in the last 2 years but I think I want new glasses. I was also talking about Lasik. Both are quite expensive. Unfortunately I know which glasses I want, but at the eye doctor, with my prescription, and including my meager discount, they would be over $500. I have flexible spending health care money set aside, but last year I didn't have enough to cover everything and in late March/early April, I'm afraid to take $500 out. Now granted, Don and an ER visit for the seizure, Brian had an ER visit for a skateboard incident, Brian's therapy, my surgery in August, and Doug's 3 hospital visits. Luckily his last 2 were covered 100%. I also used over $400 for new glasses last year too. I'm just a worry wart I guess.

This will be a week of calm and relaxation. I will work on my sweater, I want to do a couple of scrapbook/spring decorating projects, and I hope to get to the Y a few times. I want to scrapbook with my girlfriend, Marybeth. I want to go back to the Museum of Science and Industry to see the glass blowing exhibit. We didn't pay extra to do that with the students last week. Could you see 9, fourth grade classes going into a glass exhibit? I thought it would be like a bull in a china shop. My mom has also never been there so I offered to take her with.

I also have some filing to do here. I should get bunches of stuff on ebay. The dogs go to the groomer on Tuesday. Doug's home to start his new job at Uhaul this weekend. I offered to cook for us and my mom for Easter. I want to hang out with Marybeth one day. I know Brian will need taxi service. Just the same old mom stuff.

I am just glad to be off and to let my head relax. This will be a difficult week foodwise with WW because of the holiday and I tend to eat while I'm bored. I need some help in that area. I have a list a mile long of things I want to and need to get done, but for some reason my body is never motivated to get it done. Why is that? If you know the answer I'd love to hear it. I have the urge for my body to move. I know losing 25 pounds is the reason for that. I just can't get my head and my body into sync.

Anyhoo I'm about to go see if I can find part of the elements for my spring decorating project. I loved whatAli Edwards did with chipboard butterflies
and I want to do something similar and hang them off of my chandelier in my dining room. I think they'll look great flying over my purple hyacynth. They smell absolutely devine and wish I could youtube the smell and send it to you.

I also forgetting to tell you all that I've finally been invited to join the knitting/crocheting site Ravelry. It took at least 10 days to get my invitation. I'm so excited to find a site that will help me be a better knitter/crocher. I'll be having fun meandering around there this week.

Anyway I've written quite enough and I've kept you reading probably longer than you wanted. I'll hopefully be back later in the week with new layouts with the new Chirpi tape alpha and lucky products.

I wish everyone an excellent weekend and joyous Easter.

Monday..and we got more snow

Late this afternoon we got rain/sleet/snow all at once and now there is white again on the grass and driveway. The weather changed again and I'm sure the air pressure dropped bigtime because when the weather started changing I got a killer headache. It was so bad I couldn't stand my glasses sitting on my face. Bad thing since I was at work and had to drive home. Believe me, you don't want to be on the roads if I drive without my glasses! It was so bad that I had to call and cancel my hair appointment. Believe me, after 5-6 weeks I don't ever cancel a hair appointment if I don't have to. It's going to be at least another 2 weeks before I can get in, I'm sure. My hairdresser will be out of town next week during spring break.

So are you wearing green today or did you get a little pinch? I wore green!

I also report that I lost another pound. Pound schmound. I worked my butt of at the gym this week to lose a pound. Considering my PSA about skipping Steak & Shake, I'm glad I lost a pound.

More health news to report, Brian called me as I got to work saying that the school was kicking him out. Nothing serious, just some pink eye. More health concerns, but he's been out and about while he was still recouperating from the "flu" or something close to it. He probably never got totally over the virus.

My last post talked about a huge stack of papers to grade. After school I took that stack, spread them out on my big table at school and graded several stacks. Now I have a ton to put into the computer but the papers will be graded. After getting these into the computer I'll start working on the big animal report project, but I've read through so many rough drafts the biggest part won't be so bad. I'll keep plugging along this week and get done what I can.

Ok, I think I've rambled on enough. I think my brain needs to rest. Knitting seems to be calling, a mindless activity where I sit without stress.

Ughhhhhhhhhhh papers

I have so many papers to grade and I absolutely HATE grading papers. It's just that for each assignment I give, the kids do it once, I have to do it 25 times. Ok so if we do spelling, math, and science in one day, and there is homework, I have 75 different papers I have to touch. Don't get me wrong, whenever possible I have the kids grade their own papers and I enter the scores into the computer. There are just sometimes they can't grade the papers.

What puts the pressure on is the fact that the end of the quarter is this Thursday. I really want to have all my papers graded and entered into the computer before spring break so I don't have that hanging over my head. Right after we get back we have to work on grades so the report cards can be printed. I thought that could be my job after spring break. Report cards, that is the second worst thing about being a teacher.

Well I have all that blah to look forward to this weekend and this week but tonight we are going to a St. Patrick's Day party at a friend's house. We went last year and had a great time. I love corned beef and cabbage. They've found the best way to cook corned beef, in the pressure cooker. They've found the best way to cook all those veggies too, they boil them all in their turkey fryer. They fill it up with water, start it boiling and put in the veggies. No fat, no big danger of fire like there is when frying a turkey. I thought that was absolutely brilliant!
I'll need to be eating a lot of those veggies because I totally blew all my weight watcher points on a naughty dinner on Thursday. We got steak and shake. Let's just say DON'T EAT STEAK AND SHAKE WHEN YOU DO WEIGHT WATCHERS OR ARE ON A DIET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well this is the end for now. Enjoy your weekend! We have family portraits today and I want to do a couple of fun things and Don says, we should just do the normal pictures. Well I'm going to win, I hate those photographer sit this way, pose this way kind of pictures. I want fun and unusual. They make such better pictures because they're so much more natural. Today's photos are for the church directory but what I'd really want is for my friend Ursula to come to Chicago and take my family's pictures. You can check out Ursula's photography website here and then check out her blog too. She takes such fun and interesting, yet casual photos. I'm sure if she'd come up she'd find some really cool and exciting backdrops for some pictures. I do have some really photogenic boys! Oh did I also mention handsome??

Ciao!

Just worked my butt off

or at least a bit of it. I actually just got home from an hour workout at the Y. It was actually a bit relaxing. Yeah right, for those of us who hate exercise, I'm right there with ya, but when I was sitting, pedaling on that bike for 30 minutes I didn't have to think about anything that I had to do. I sat and listened to my ipod and watched Wife Swap and Deal or No Deal. I read those captions while listening to the music.

Well anyway I started on the eliptical for 15 minutes and went .95 miles. Then to the bike were I numbbed my but and feet but rode for 4 miles in 30 minutes. After that I thought about leaving but a treadmill opened up so I thought ahhhh, what's another 15 minutes. So I walked, even put some incline on the tread mill. Then I got brave. For the last 40 seconds I pumped up the speed to 4.0 and jogged for 40 seconds. No big deal for those of you who are in shape and run, but I don't run. Actually my body's been feeling the urge to move. Today Doug went to school with me and taught the kids how to play blob tag and at the end I linked hands and ran around like a school kid. I ran, then tonight I ran/jogged again.

I'm mighty proud of myself for that! I think it meant even more that I got up my gumption and went alone. Nobody made this body fat and overweight but me, so I guess nobody can make it skinny and more healthy except me too. Just it would be fun to have a workout buddy.

So this week, Don and I walked down to check out a house that caught on fire on Sunday, so we walked about a mile. Monday, I took my ipod and became a "hall walker" at schoool and did two laps of each of the 3 floors including the 3 flights of steps two times. Then today I did all that exercise at the Y. I actually have 5 activity points I can eat on my Weight Watchers account, but it sure would be nice not to have to. I have 2 points left today so there is my skinny cow snack then I think I'm done. We do have a St. Patrick's Day party on Saturday night with friends so I know I'll use more points there then I should. Although I'd think cabbage and boiled vegetables should be free!

I want to give my good friend Marybeth a shout out! She's decided to get healthy and she's started a blog. You can check it out here!

Ok so I've written enough for today. I think my skinny cow's calling my name.

Some Blog Redecorating

Not only did I update my header, which still could use a bit of shrinkage to fit in the template but I upgraded my blog so that I can use the new basic drag and drop, easy upload, easy changes format.

Although I've had to make a few changes and updates, I love the ease of making changes now!

Thanks for that Blogger!

I've finished my little knitted bag. I need to do just a bit more work on the handles but I've already done the yarn swatch for the sweater I'm going to start on. My first sweater!

I also jumped on the Ravlery waiting list. Maybe I should start a knitting blog. I doubt I could keep that updated because my other blog has kind of been neglected. I really need to get myself on a schedule and integrate exercise in that and time to reflect and pray daily.

I'll just keep working because I can only get better if I keep trying.

Another Layout

Credits Here

Today's a day for a new layout!

This is my newest scrapbook layout. Everything is by a great new designer Victoria Greenlees who owns her own store Chirpi. The great new kit is called Moroccan Sunset and can be
found here.

I highly urge you to go and check out her great new stuff.