SLACKER!!!

I know I'm way behind. These pictures should have been posted almost 2 weeks ago.
I should have been so excited that they were up the same night. I was excited but was
under so much stress with my class I just wasn't functioning too well. I'm a bit better now
and glad I am able to post a few of the prom pics of my son and his date. He was actually her date and it was the prom from her school. My son is not a senior and cannot go to his school's prom. She's such a cute girl that he's friends with from a church group.


This is so my favorite photo! He looks so handsome, so old, and so sophisticated!

Today is a Special Day!!

Today is my 19th Anniversary and my son's 14th
birthday. I don't feel old yet with him turning 14.
I feel like I've been married for more than 19 years
sometimes.

We've decided to go out for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.

Ohhhhh so good!!!!
My dinner is already planned out in my head
Sweet corncakes (an appetizer)
and some delicious, scrumptious cheesecake!


Oh Don, get home so we can go eat!

Mother's Day weekend

It's been a long week and I'm hoping for a quiet, relaxing weekend.

I've been challenged to try my hand at a digital card.

Here is what I've created.

Happy Mother's Day to all!

National Scrapbook Day

Today is National Scrapbook Day which means if you are a scrapper you should be scrappin!

Since I've moved, I've also change the way I scrap. I'm pretty sure I'll be 80-90% digital, for a while. I have had my friends say my style has changed a bit since I've gone digital. Hey, change is good!

So I'll show you a couple of my newest pages, not created today, but not too long ago.

Let me know if you like my stuff!

The first REAL day of my vacation

Today is what I'm considering the first REAL day of my vacation.
It is the day that I only had 3 things planned.

1. Take Brian to school
2. Go to Brian's volleyball game
3. Go to my hair appointment

Sure there are about 1000 things I should do to get caught up with, but I decided that it was do whatever I wanted day.

So I.....

1. Took Brian to school
2. Went into the school to discuss something with the psychologist.
3. Went to the high school to change our address
4. Bought musical tickets while at the high school
5. Got the registration forms for summer school and summer sports camps
6. Went to the library to get new library cards for me and the boys.
7. Picked out some books on Southern California
8. Went to my mom's for breakfast
9. Took my mom shopping at TJ Maxx where I ended up buying 2 pair of capri pants, one shirt and a new pair of Born sandals.
10. Went to Michaels to look for a cute little vase (which is why I originally went to TJMaxx) and some happy, spring gerbera daisies for my dining room table.
11. Went out to lunch with my mom.
12. Came home and had to deal with the phone call issue that Brian's wallet was stolen at school and I had to deal with the police.
13. Went to Brian's volleyball game.
14. Took Brian home.
15. Went back out to have my hair colored, cut and my eyebrows waxed.
16. Went to the doctors' office to pick up a prescription.
17. Went to get stamps
18. Went to take the taxes to the post office
19. Went to Dairy Queen and finally home for the night!

Ok, someone told me today that I had done a lot and had accomplished a great deal. They said that if I made a list of all I did I'd be shocked.

OK...I'M SHOCKED!

Now tomorrow's the one day of my entire vacation that I've been totally looking forward to.

It is my pedicure with a good friend and then lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.

What could be better????? A nice relaxing pedicure with freshly polished pink(maybe) toenails and then followed up by mouth watering cheesecake??? Nothing I say, NOTHING! It is a teacher's dream vacation day. Well no...my Mirival spa trip from Oprah was my Ultimate Teacher's Dream Vacation day. But tomorrow should come in a close second.

I hope that tomorrow's list does only consist of:

1. Take Brian to school
2. Relaxing pedicure and friendly conversation
3. Cheesecake and more good conversation
4. Pick up Brian from school

and...

5. NOTHING ELSE!!!

Hey I'm a mom; there's bound to be more and I'm a woman...it's only natural to change my mind!

Ahhhhhhhhh Vacation

It took so long to get here, now I know it's going to fly by
but for now, I'm officially on vacation!!

I was supposed to get my hair done yesterday
but my girl had the stomach flu.

Vegged out today. Did do one digital scrapbook page
though.

Tuesday is my pamper myself day
Pedicure with a friend and lunch at Cheesecake Factory.
Thursday is the dentist. UGH


Here is my page!

A Sad Day

We received a phone call at 2:00 am from Don's mom saying that
her mom had passed on. I knew that Memaw (a very southern term
for grandmother) was special, but for the few times I saw her I didn't
realize how with it she really was. She was 96 and live a good, full life.
96 is amazing. My grandmother passed on about 6 months ago and
she was 85 I think. She was 11 years younger. Eleven never really seemed
like a lot until you think of it as a difference in age when you're 96.

I always thought calling your grandmother "memaw" was quite strange.
Not growing up in the south and all...it did sound a bit unusual.
My mother-in-law always said, I want to be grandma, not memaw.

Well when Doug was learning to talk, he was babbling mommy so fast it
got turned around into memom. That was it, my mom became Memaw
and by shear luck, my mother-in-law also became Memaw. Quite an
unusual term for us northerners, but unique. My kids have given their
grandmother a name filled with love and affection. Not something everyone
hears everyday.

So today as I was telling co-workers about our loss, it dawned on me
that I would never again hear her southern drawl. That enlongated vowel sound
when saying Laura. It was more like Laaaaaaaaaaaoorrrrrrra. She would
always tell Don "Now Doooooooonnnie, you make sure to tell Laaaaaaaaaoooraaa that I said hi."

Memaw Funderburke, I hope you have your vision back, that you've seen Big Daddy, and they have McDonald's apple pies in Heaven. Peace to you. You'll be missed.

The official blog countdown until Spring Break

4 More School days until Spring Break

YIPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tonight at class was one of those nights you sit on the edge of your chair. It was the first night back after the midterm, so we were getting that test back. It also was the night that our advisor was coming back to return the dreaded portfolios.

I don't know which I was more worried about. After all, I did study as much as I could for the midterm. I also worked my butt off on that portfolio for almost 3 weeks straight. I felt confident about the midterm, well pretty confident the night we took it. I wasn't sure what to expect the night we turned in our portfolios. I was relieved to have it done and turn it in. It felt like 2 months would take forever to get here. It really was quite fast. Yikes 2 months have passed since my birthday then, crap then only 10 more until I turn 40.

Ok, so I know you're dying to know.

On the midterm, it was worth 100 points. Well I scored 97/100 and got the 3 point extra credit problem correct. So I truly got 100/100!!!!

Ok, one down one more to go. It was at the end of class when our adivsor came in. If you're not sure about the portfolio, scroll back and see the monsterous binder. Ok so 2 different people had to read and score it. All together, the portfolio needs to have a large number of Target approvals. The maximum it could have is 45 Target approvals. You know like what you wrote is "right on target". The choices they could score are Target, Acceptable, and Unacceptable.

Out of the 45 of the areas that were scored... I received 43 Target and 2 Acceptables. OMG I was so amazed. There were only 2 small areas that I need to tighten up and make stronger for next time. Make a stronger point that what I believe in my educational philosophy is documented within my project. Not really within my project but within my brief 1 paragraph statement that basically defends my project.

I'm so FREAKING HAPPY!!!!

Now the stinky news...we found out that we will not be done with the program in May 2007 as earlier expected. We will have to take the last class in the summer of 07. That means that we won't walk through the graduation ceremony until December of 07. I really don't care about the ceremony, I care about the pay increases and being done. I'm getting burned out and the classes from here on out are only going to keep getting more and more difficult.

Thanks to everyone for your support while I did this huge undertaking. I'm so glad the portfolio is done and safe, back in my hot little hands. Now I'll tuck it into a safe spot in my closet or on my bookcase and take one more peak at those Target scores and get cracking on my next project that's due soon. I will not be putting off having the next portfolio artifacts done until the very end this time either!

Wow...I'm a bad Blogger

I see it's been since March 4th since I've updated. I'm a bad, bad blogger. Since then I've been giving some required formal reading tests, 8 in all. I also had a midterm to study for. We've had some heartache, Doug did not make the volleyball team. Don has had his identity stolen and we've been fighting with the bank to get all of our money back. I've also upgraded to PSE4. I really can't wait to start doing some amazing digital pages. I've got a lot to learn though.

This is testing week at school. Since I teach 4th grade, we have the most tests now. So I lose all my planning periods this week. UGH, I say. Don doesn't say it but he enjoys seeing the extra $250 on the pay check in a couple weeks. I guess I could buy a few more digital kits!

So I'll give you a sneak peak of what I've started working on.
This is my mom.



The paper is Jen Wilson. The flowers are Holly McCaig.
It still needs some work. I need some insides for all those flowers.
This is based upon a the Autumn Leaves 2005 calendar.

My new favorite breakfast

My new favorite breakfast is healthy! Believe it or not, I've found a healthy alternative to Lucky Charms. This is it. It is a mixture of vanilla yogurt, strawberries and Cherrios. This morning I felt really crummy because I'm getting sick but had enough energy to cut up some strawberries and mix up my breakfast. I actually had two bowls it tasted so yummy!

Other than my breakfast, and getting sick, I have Monday off. Casmir Pulaski Day. It figures I'd be getting sick. Brian is sick and coughing all the time. We'll be going to the doctor for his physical on Monday so I hope he's better, if not we'll probably be getting some medicine too.

We are still unpacking boxes and trying to set up this house. Still waiting for the washer... yes I do need to do laundry! ={

I've also started some digital scrapbooking and trying to decide upon a program..Digial Image Suite or Photoshop Elements. I am leaning towards elements I think.

Were in...finally

It has been a long 2 weeks. I've never cleaned so much in my entire life. Spring cleaning in aout 5 days in a house where I don't think they've ever cleaned in at least 6 months.
So I've shown you some before, well you can't clearly see the dirt but you get the idea.
Now let me show you what some paint and some good furniture can do. This place had potential and now it's starting to shine. A bunch of boxes left to unpack, the garage is full and still have to paint the bathroom and over the summer I'll strip wallpaper from the kitchen to repaint but here is what it has gotten to so far.



1. living room
2. my room
3. Doug's room
4. Brian's room

call me Cinderella

1. dining room
2. Brian's room
3. living room
4. view out my dining room door
5. my room


I've cleaned so much that I've used 3 full bottles, large bottles of Pine Sol. I've never EVER cleaned so much before in my life. I've done spring cleaning in a week to 10 days time.

I'm adding some before pictures so you can see what I have been trying to clean. Nope it's not even done yet.

Moving Day

Moving Day is Sunday.
We've been painting, cleaning, cleaning and painting to no end and moving day is almost upon us.
We've been working so hard at the new house that we've let the packing at the old house get backed up. At least we have one extra week to pack up extra stuff, move it and do a quick cleaning.

I'm still under a load of stress, but each day, as things get closer I figure there's not much I can do about it so I must just deal with it and get it done.

I'm going to be offline and will be dying without my girlfriends for support but the cable guy comes to reinstall cable and internet on Monday. Thankfully a long holiday weekend!

My next post will be from my new house. Until then...toodles!

{{{{{Stressed}}}}}

I am usually pretty capable of dealing with stress. I can usually find something that will just help me get rid of it. Sometimes I vent, yell, or go for a walk. I just got through blowing off some steam by yelling at the boys about their lack of participation and effort in trying to keep the little things maintained, like the dirty dishes being rinsed out, but my stress level is still freaking me out.

I swear I feel like I'm running on empty. I have no energy. I have no motivation. I have TONS to do. Tuesday I worked, went to class, then went to take a look at my new house. Wednesday, worked, meeting after work, then went straight to the new house. My mom came to help us a bit, and together we scrubbed cabinet doors and drawer fronts, I vacummed out the drawers and cabinets, took out the shelves so they are ready to wash and put shelf liner on. Then after my mom left I cleaned the toilet and scrubbed all the walls in the living room. Those walls are ready to paint. I have all the other walls to wash, cabinet insides to wipe out, painting, packing, and about 750 other things to do.

Tonight I came home, straight home. There isn't much to eat here for dinner. Don is spackling tons of nail holes at the new house tonight. I came home to do about 10 loads of laundry...nope not done either. I also thought that between laundry I could catch up on my classwork...about 75 pages of reading. Nope, can't even focus to read. Hearing the television on is nagging at me. I have no desire to do much at all. I should sit and try to finish my scarf I'm crocheting but don't know that I could even focus to do that. I would like to sit and watch ER only for the fact that Carter is returning tonight. I've missed most of last season and all of this season but saw a commercial that Dr. Carter returns. He's about the only reason I continued to watch a while ago but now it's so different I don't like how they are writing for the characters now. It's not like the old days.

I sit here and finish my computer therapy and have just been asked to rate how good my son's old tennis shoes look. Obviously cleaning his tennis shoes is more important than finding pens and pencils that he needs for school because the teacher sent me an email. The shoes are more important than unloading the dishwasher that I had asked him to do. I think that anything is going to just irritate me tonight. I should just curl up in bed with my down comforter and the dogs. They are a little more tollerable tonight than the tv or the kids.

I need some stress relief...either that or a magic lamp and a genie that will nod his head and transform my new house completely and pack and move my old one.

CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!!

A Rare treat!

Any time I can get Doug to take a picture and he smiles,
that's a treat!
Any time I get to take a picture of Brian, Mr. Photogenic,
that's a treat!
Any time I can get a photo of both boys and me together,
that's the RARE TREAT!

I swear my kids are so handsome! Yes I am biased!
I can't believe they are so big. I mean, old.
They are getting old and growing up so fast.
It doesn't bother me that they are getting so tall, that's a good thing.
Volleyball players need to be tall!
It does amaze me that it's been over 16 years.
I wish I knew then what I know now.
These boys would be so much smarter.
I guess being a teacher now, tells me what they should have been practicing for years with me instead of just in school.

But hey...if it weren't for them I would have never gone into teaching.
I should be thankful for that. I have learned a lot from these two, I just hope they say one day, I learned a lot from my mom.

D&B I love you!

P is for...

Portfolio!











I bet you thought I was going to say pain in the butt!
Well that would be a metaphor for my portfolio.
This has been a work in progress ever since I started back to school.
But in my case, P is also for procrastinator.

This is one-third of how they determine if I am awarded my masters degree.
This is 9 different projects, 9 papers that show how each of the projects meet anywhere
from 2-4 different professional standards and 9 different papers telling how the projects match my educational philosophy, how I learned from them, and how I'll use the knowledge I've learned.

Needless to say, this has been a learning experience in itself.
I am making myself this promise...

I WILL NEVER LET THIS GET SO FAR BEHIND!

I WILL DO THE STANDARDS AND REFLECTIONS AS SOON AS THE CLASS IS OVER!

For everyone who hounded me, provided me with chocolate and caffine, and kept me going,

I owe you all a huge...

THANK YOU!

Now we'll all need patience. I don't get this back for several months.

Two different graders go through it to determine if I am on target or if I need to go back and redo.

This is a crazy week!

I can't believe that we are beyond half way through January. Where does the time go?
The quarter ended at school last Friday. Grades are due by tomorrow at 3:00 pm. Yippee mine are done! Now I have a hair appointment, Doug' therapy, Doug's volleyball practice and quite a few other things happening this week.

Hmmmmmmmmm, nothing too big, just turning the big 39. Yikes where did that time go???
Yes I think I look 39, I feel 39 and I don't want to! I guess there are only two things to do about it...live with it or change it!

I've got one more week to finish the portfolio. I've got to get cracking on it. I would like to have it done so I can enjoy next weekend without fretting over that dang thing.

Doug is making big progress with his shoulder at rehab. He returns to the doctor on February 6, so we are hoping for a release. He needs to start playing volleyball again.

We are anxiously awaiting Brian's report card and hoping that we see some improvement from the 1st quarter, but we are expecing more of difference in the 3rd quarter. The pills are making some difference, now he just needs to decide himself about making better decisions.

Ok, this has been a hectic day and my eyes are exhausted. I can barely see this screen. Thank goodness for that typing class in highschool. Touch typing is so much easier than the hunt and peck method!

Ciao!

I've been tagged...

Thanks to Susanna, I've been tagged. I guess I could say I don't want to play, but what the heck! Are there tagbacks???

Four Jobs you've had in your life:
Teacher
Grocery Store Checker { Most while being a mom, so add that to my list}
Banker
Fast food worker

Four Movies you could watch over and over
Under the Tuscan Sun
American President
Breakfast Club
Top Gun

Four places you have lived
Bolingbrook, Illinois
Downers Grove, Illinois
Battle Creek Michigan
Columbus, Ohio

Four tv shows you love to watch
Nascar Racing
West Wing
hmmmmmmm I don't watch much tv

Four places you have been on vacation
Miraval Spa, near Tuscon AZ
Denver, CO
Walt Disney World
Tybee Island, GA

Four websites I visit daily:
Tipster board
Various digital sbing sites (just recently)
2 Peas digital message board
Susanna's blog

Four of my favorite foods
chocolate
soups
garlic cheese bread
chocolate

Four places I'd rather be right now
work (Don and Brian have the stomach flu and I'm home)
Miraval
done with my portfolio
someplace warm, tropical and relaxing

Four bloggers I am tagging
Nancy
Angelina
Adrienne
hmmmm I would say Margert, Suzie or Marybeth but they don't update their blogs too often!

Back to the Grindstone

Tomorrow it is back to school. My vacation is officially over and I'm sad to be going back to school. One positive thing is...the school year is almost half over and June gets that much closer each day!