2009

Silent Night, Holy Night

new cookie

This has been a nice relaxing day, actually. This evening I decided to make a new cookie recipe. Wasn't going to do cookies this year, but I read this recipe the other day and decided to give it a try. Slightly rich - but yep, pretty yummy! As you can see from the picture, I left a couple plain ones so I could have them. And excuse the picture presentation - I'm not so creative. Probably sans newspaper would have looked better - but that caught all the extra peanuts! :)

brrrr.....

winter wonderland update

When I got up 1/2 hour ago the temp was 7 - now it is 6.3 - the windchill is in the minus category! The wind started about 4:00 a.m. and I was almost afraid to stay in bed - wasn't sure if it was ice or trees falling on the roof. Guess it was a little of both. Fred even got up and went in to Todd's room to make sure nothing had gone through the roof because it sure sounded like it did! The lights are flickering and our fingers are crossed that they stay on! The Winter Wonderland was nice for a couple of days - but it can stop now!

Ohio's winter wonderland

Hmmmmm.....there is a little difference between Atascadero's Winter Wonderland and Ohio's Winter Wonderland! In Ohio there is an inch or two of snow covering the ground AND lots and lots of sparkling ice. Maybe an inch thick on the trees and as we drove towards town we saw a lot of limbs in yards, on roofs, and in the streets. The new evergreen tree line across from Anthony Wayne had most of the trees bent over in half - they looked sad. :( As we kept driving we saw a lot of electrical lines that had been brought down by the falling limbs. The traffic light at Chief was out - just a little dangerous going through that intersection without a light! We are thinking the neighbors across the street do not have electricity because we could see lots of trees and lines down in everyones' back yards. So, as long as everyone is safe and warm - I am happy with Ohio's Winter Wonderland!

tis the season

Fred had his first Christmas party last Friday - his guy party. But, tonight we had our first 'together' party. It was at the house of the Defiance College president and it was so nice. The house is beautiful - very simple, plain, and elegant. The president and his wife are such nice, nice people. We found Vince and Donna Polce right off the bat - so we had someone familiar to talk to. There was a beautiful grand piano in the living room and one of the education profs sat down and started playing Christmas Carol's and people joined in. It was nice - tis the season!

speaking of cakes

December

Wow! Here it is - December 5. We always used to put our tree up on December 6 (Happy Birthday Kami!). Fred would set it up and put the lights on. When Fred would leave for his annual stockholders meeting, that seemed to always be on that night, the kids and I would decorate it. We would start by winding the popcorn/cranberry garland, that we had all strung, around the tree. It had to be perfect - with just the right draping! Then we would put on the ornaments. The kids each had their favorites they wanted to put on the tree.
Things are a little different now, especially this year. The tree was put up a week ago and stood bare until Wednesday night. I put the lights on (it saves a lot of arguing!) and the bow on top with the streamers down the sides. Last year was the first year for no popcorn/cranberries and for some reason we think we are too busy to do that anymore. Maybe in another year or two we will do it again - I miss it. But, the bow looks pretty for now. Anyway - there still aren't any decorations on the tree and probably won't be for a few more days. Maybe I don't like decorating the tree by myself, so I am procrastinating. But, that's okay.
Tomorrow my friend and I are having a get away day. We are leaving here in the morning and heading to Auburn to check out a new shop. Will eat lunch some where and probably come back through Edon and stop to fix Grandma's computer. We should get back to Defiance just in time to do the Christmas Walk.

thankful

Thankful for such a nice day filled with family - even the Cali family! How great was that? We all got to be together! So blessed are we!

week off

I have this week off and I'm liking it! The elementary schools dismiss at 1:00 tomorrow and have the rest of the week off - nice for people who want to travel over Thanksgiving. Trying to get organized for my first ever Thanksgiving dinner on my own!

dinner

Another football dinner is over for the year! Had four really nice guys - very big guys! Their combined weight was 898 lbs. and thank heavens they were meat and potato men! I don't think there is any worry about someone being a vegetarian when they play football. :) One took their pie "to go" - the rest ate theirs here.

last week and tomorrow

It was a long week, last week. Tuesday at lunch I started feeling bad and went home. Never made it back to school until Friday - and the only reason I went then was because two classes were on a field trip and I knew I wouldn't have to do much! Barb came over for the infamous "sinus" massage Friday night and it felt so good! Saturday morning I had to read questions at the Quiz Team Invitational - 280 questions - not good for a scratchy voice! Last night the coughing started - I hate the coughing! Today I did laundry, cleaned, grocery shopped and now I am ready to take a shower and head to bed. Who cares if it is 6:30? :) Getting up at 4:00 tomorrow morning - Fred has to be at Ft. Wayne by 6:00 to prep for his cath. Praying that everything goes good.

philo finalist

Ever hear of the Philo Awards? Ever hear of the Emmy's - the Philo is like an Emmy for local Community Television. I was informed today that one of our little DCTV programs was an award Finalist! Pretty cool, huh?

just needs to be June

Pebble/Spyglass reservations - made.
4 Airline ticket reservatons - made.
1 3 bedroom/2.5 bathroom rental in Pismo Beach reservations - made.
Hmmmmmmmm........what's missing? It just needs to be June 19!

halloween is over

In their usual odd tradition - Defiance had Trick or Treat last Thursday night - October 23. So, seems like Halloween is over. Go figure!
Missing Diane and Jerry bunches. Loved spending so much time with them. Sure wish there weren't so many miles between us!

sanity

I am writing this for my own sanity..........crazy, crazy day and I needed to take some time to just relax. Yep, this is relaxing to me!

what a week!

This was another busy, busy week. Went to Girls' Sectionals with Fred and the girls and got home just in time to do a walk-through with a teacher and 3 girls from school. It is so funny to watch the kids and hear their ideas about what we should do with the school. I think there were morning meetings and after school meetings the rest of the week. No rest this weekend, though - hadn't done laundry for 2 weeks and I can't remember the last time I dusted or ran the vacuum. :( So - guess what I will be doing tomorrow.

weekend

What a nice weekend! Spent a lot of time with Reid and Rylan - Kami's came over on Saturday and got to talk to Todd while I was there! I love my kids!

5 day week

The first 5 day week is under our belt - and boy! Could I tell it was 5 days! But it was a good week. The Media Centers have a class in them almost all the time, every teacher now has a webpage, Miss Sandy started emailing her weekly memo, the kids are excited about reading with the revamped AR, they are making their goals faster in AM, the music teacher has been bringing the 5/6 grades to the Media Center to use GarageBand and every free minute they have they ask if they can come to my room to work on their song, DCTV Class was so much fun, and the three boys working on the Alice Project loved it!
About the AR - there was a third grader that has really struggled with reading and the other day she got a 100% on her AR quiz because she realized she wasn't just reading words - she realized the words were actually saying something. It was awesome seeing the sparkle in her eyes and the huge smile on her face!
About the Alice Project - one of the boys working on the Alice Project has been a handful in the past - like running away from school or hiding in weird places, but this year he seems very focused. Not sure if it is because he is a "mature" 6th grader now or because we are giving him opportunities to be creative. The day after the first Alice Project class he came into my room first thing in the morning to tell me he downloaded Alice on his home computer and made a 3 minute video and today he was telling me about another video he made. Then, when I told all three of the boys they would be allowed to take the laptops home - WOW! You would have thought I gave them a car or something! So great seeing so much excitement!
The other day one of the sixth graders said, "You know what? We get to school and the next thing I know it is time to go home - the time goes so fast." And that is a good thing - that is what school should be like for everyone!

Tigger or Eyeore

I can't believe I haven't written about this before today....have you heard of Randy Pausch? He is the professor from Carnegie Mellon University that passed away from pancreatic cancer the end of July. He was known for his "Last Lecture" he gave last fall at CMU. When I heard of his death I watched his lecture on You Tube - I was hooked. Soon after that I was going to Kami's, so I downloaded his book, "The Last Lecture" to listen to in the car. What an inspiration he was! At first I couldn't put my finger on why I was so fascinated with this man, but as I was listening to his book and heard about his Alice Project it hit me over the head - he was a computer nerd! :) His Alice project - geared toward High School/College age students is a free download, as well as StoryBook Alice - geared toward Middle School students and written by a former student of his. As soon as I could I downloaded the programs and, of course, I was hooked! You can create 3D animation - kind of like the Incredibles. Next week, three 6th grade boys and myself are going to start working on our own Alice Project. I showed each of them an example this week and they are so excited and ready to get started. I don't know how it will go - for all I know it will take us all school year to make a 5 minute animation film! In his last lecture Randy Pausch asked this question, "Are you a Tigger or an Eyeore?" Randy Pausch was definitely a Tigger and it is my hope that when these three boys finish their project they are all Tiggers just like Randy Pausch and look forward to climbing any brick wall they may encounter.

another weekend

Another weekend is here. I realize it was a 4 day week - but it went very fast! I love my job! This week the last two teachers started working on their webpage, so all the teachers have webpage links now - Sandy started using email as a way of communicating with the teachers (this was a huge step for her) - the staff at the church office asked if they could be a part of our Everybody Reads campaign that I started - and the music teacher brought her classes in to use GarageBand today (after 4 years of coaxing) and wonders why she waited so long - 17 kids applied to be in DCTV Class (I have to let 7 of them down easy) - and Tony brought me a fresh homemade cinnamon roll from Bud's this morning! :)

whew!

Whew! It was a hot, hot, hot day! I'm not sure it has been this hot all summer, but that always happens when school starts. I'm taking two extra fans to school tomorrow to try to keep the computers cooled down while the 1st/2nd grades do STAR Reading tests. Tomorrow is to be hot again, then hopefully the forecast for a cool down will really happen.

bat free weekend

Three days under the belt - I knew the quiet first day was just playing tricks with me. The last two days were non-stop, but sure makes the time go fast. The three day weekend will be nice, but I'm anxious to get started again on Tuesday.
AND I'm hoping the weekend is bat free!!!! No more bats in the bedroom, please!

countdown

The countdown is over - school starts tomorrow. BP - be positive! :) The weather is perfect - cool, a breeze. That's a positive, right? Really, I'm excited.....just hope I have time to do everything I want to do. Oh my! It is 10:00 - no more late nights - better head to bed!

reflecting

I am staying home today.....I had all intentions of going to school and making sure everything is set up and ready to go but changed my mind. Yesterday I had everything set up and ready to go for the In-Service and, as so many times, technology had other plans. So, my logic today was, the first time everyone goes to use their computers there will probably be problems - why spend all day today trying to set it up and then having to "fix" it next week. Makes sense to me - how about you? :)

As my friend and I were sitting by her pool drying off before I left on Wednesday (the last pool day of the summer) we were reflecting about what a great summer this has been:
1. Family - we both got to spend some great times with family this summer and that is always the best! Only thing that could have made it better would have been a quick trip to Cali!
2. Weather - the weather has been beautiful - very few really hot, humid days - a lot of nice sunny, clear blue sky days.
3. Friends - we both spent so much time with friends and I even made new ones at the pool. I love making new friends.
4. Conversation - we sure did try to solve all the problems of the world at our pool gatherings! Now, if we could just get someone else to listen to our ideas! :)
5. Learning - I learned so much at my conferences/workshops and can't wait to start using what I learned with the kids!

beautiful Saturday

Wow! This was a beautiful day - starting to feel fall-like. As beautiful as the day was, I spent 5 hours at school getting my room ready. I feel like it is ready to go - at St. Mary's anyway! So, if it is nice weather the beginning of the week - I can do the pool! Tuesday most of us that have been pooling with Cathy this summer are meeting at a restaurant for lunch - will be fun!

it's started

I guess I need to face it - my vacation is over. Had an all day teacher meeting today, which went really good. But, it was very evident that my vacation is now over. I am looking forward to getting back to work, but could we delay it just another week or two?

a week

Well, it has been a week since I've been here. Decided at the last minute to take off for Kami's last Tuesday and spent the week at Mt. Vernon. Came home Friday. Went to a canning class that Kami held at her church, went to Swim Stroke Clinic - Alex is getting better all the time and Elizabeth was swimming by the time I left, got fresh peaches at the apple orchard (I know), went to Dan Emmitt Day's and listened to some good music and had a corn dog! Saturday we went to a party at our friends' lake house in Eaton. We had been there three years ago and it was fun to see how all the little ones had grown! Favorite part.......stopped and saw Annie Oakley's gravesite on the way home! :) Met Linda and Grandma at Bob Evan's for lunch then went to the mall yesterday. From there we headed to KCC to get ready for the Ohio Women's Open today and tomorrow. Didn't get home until 9:00. Had to get up at 5:00 and spent the day at a Conference in Wapakoneta - on a scale of 1-10......it was a 1.5. Will never go to another one that equals the Indianapolis Conference. Came home, went to a DC picnic then back out to KCC. I'm ready for bed!
Fred is in bed - Tinora had their first Invitational today. Not good. Going to be a long, long golf season.
Okay - after today I am only going to be positive. If I'm not my colleagues are to look at me and say, "Carol - BP (Be Positive)."

special weekend

We had such a nice weekend with Reid, Jasmine and Rylan. Sang happy birthday to Reid Friday night as he blew out the candle on his peanut butter pie! :) Saturday we went to Bud's for lunch then the guys headed to the golf course and the girls headed to the mall, of course! Rylan is growing so fast and is such a sweetie!
Tomorrow I am heading to Mt. Vernon for a few days. Last chance I will have to go for a visit for several days in a row, so decided to take advantage of it.
Now, if I could just head to California next week I would be very happy!

fun visit

Had such a fun time with Alex and Elizabeth here. We went to Grand Rapids and took the Canal Boat ride - pulled down the river by Mules! Then we walked to the nearby park and had a picnic and played. Favorite game - the caterpillar race with the two caterpillars we found! :) Sunday we went to Great Grandma Darr's - lemon ice cream cones, of course! And there was running through the sprinkler, watching movies, reading books - not enough time to do everything we wanted. Love to have visits like that! This weekend Rylan (and Reid and Jasmine) will be here!

pool day #2

Now, this is what vacation is all about - going to the pool two days in a row and just being lazy!!!!

pool day

What a perfect pool day! For two hours I layed on a mesh raft in the water and it felt SO good! Need to lotion up before I hop in bed, though!

ahhhh.....

Ahhhhhhh.......feels good to be home and know I don't have to get in the car and travel tomorrow! The conference was EXCELLENT! So glad we were able to go - learned so much and have so much to share with the other teachers. Plus, the food was wonderful! :-) Best conference I have ever been to!

on the road again

Okay, I'm home for the evening then taking off again tomorrow! I'm getting tired and ready to stay home for a few days and do NOTHING!
Had a nice day with Gma and Aunt Linda yesterday. Got home this morning then went furniture shopping with Wilma this afternoon. Made a decision on a couch/chairs/carpet/vinyl for her living room - whew! That's a good feeling!!!!
Tomorrow - off for Indy and will be home Friday afternoon.

storms

You knew as soon as you got up this morning it was going to storm some time today. It was cloudy and humid and humid and humid. So, about 2:15 the tornado warning siren blew and the wind picked up and the sky got eerie and the rain came down hard and fast. At 2:30 the lights blinked once and out they went. (right in the middle of me making Ann's caramel sauce) By 2:35 everything had stopped and the sky had brightened. At 2:45 the caramel sauce got dumped and at 4:00 we had lights again. It is 9:50 and just now another storm blew through. Not as bad as the first one, but just as fast and this time the lights stayed on.

4th of July

Of course when I get up the first thing I do is look out our huge front window. Something made me smile when I looked out the window this morning......someone went down our street and put a little flag in everyone's front yard - right out by the street. I'm assuming they did the entire neighborhood, just haven't checked that out yet. Anyway - I said to myself - "how neat!" Happy 4th of July!

girl trip

Had another fun girl trip this week! Went back to Michigan City since Ruth didn't get to go last year. This year, before we left, we visited the beach along Lake Michigan - it was beautiful! Wished we had taken our bathing suits so we could have spent the day there! And, as you can see, we shopped on day one! :)

new week

Here it is - another new week! Really enjoyed having Kami and the kids from Sunday - Wednesday last week. Have been spending a lot of time working on the videos from Judy and Jason's wedding - just finished putting them all in their cases and tying bows around them. Out of the hours and hours of video - my favorite DVD is 4 1/2 minutes long - a slide show of highlights set to Every Day by Rascal Flatts. That song came on the radio right after Judy had put on her wedding dress and she burst in to tears saying, "Darn that Rascal Flatts!" So, just had to do something to that song!
This week is the Girl Trip. Leaving Tuesday morning for Michigan City, IN - same place as last year, but Ruth gets to go this time. Can't wait!

wedding

The wedding was so, so pretty. Judy and her dress were beautiful! As we went into the church at noon for pictures everyone commented on what a great day for a wedding - sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky - a little breeze. I left the car windows down so it wouldn't get so hot in the car. The wedding started at 1:30 and at 2:00 I heard a noise - thunder! I looked at Fred and motioned that my car windows were down - he motioned back that his were, too! When I left the church at 2:15 it was raining and still raining when I got to the reception at 4:30. Didn't dampen anyone's spirits, though! Was a great day!

wedding day

Today is Judy's wedding. REALLY hard to believe she is all grown up and getting married! I'm the official videographer - no pressure! Wedding is at 1:30, but I need to get going to set up and tape the girls getting dressed (it's a little after 10:00)!

good week

This has been a good week. Had a good Nettrekker workshop on Tuesday - it is going to be a great research tool for the teachers and the students. Can't wait to have an in-service on it! Wednesday I spent the morning taking pictures of the rooms at Anthony Wayne so we will all remember what our rooms look like and can figure out where we want things when we move. Came home and went to Ayers' pool for awhile - it was cloudy, but nice conversation and I actually got burned! Today - I wasn't looking forward to - a 7 hour Conference at Bowling Green, but the Diocese Tech Coordinator asked me on Tuesday if I would be available to help her out today, so since I was busy setting up video conferences, power points, etc. the day went faster. On a scale of 1-5 I would rate the conference a 2+. The best part was learning to Podcast - can't wait to get started on that! The teacher that I rode with was so excited with ideas for next year - so that is a good thing!
And I am so excited about all the Mac things coming from California!!!! :)

lovin' it

So far, this has been the perfect first day of not going to school! Got up at 8:00 - last night I rented 27 Dresses from iTunes and watched it this morning. It is now 11:30 - I am getting ready to put on my bathing suit and head to my friend's pool. It is overcast, but almost 80 to get close to 90 this afternoon. The leftover school work will wait for a rainy day!

smiling

Yeah!!!! School's out for the summer! FINALLY!!!!

oops!

All school year I have been meeting with a friend at her house on Wednesday afternoons and we, basically, play on her computer - which happens to be a Mac. Most of the time I can answer her questions, but some times we learn together. We have so much fun and we talk more than work on the computer. She insists on paying me and I feel guilty taking anything from her, but she wouldn't like it if I didn't, so I usually accept her generosity.
On Saturday, she is leaving for Istanbul for a couple of weeks and she wondered if she could set up an auto-reply for her email while she is gone. I told her I have never done that in Mail - but if she was game to try it, so was I. We had to set it up as a "Rule" and were a little puzzled as to which condition to select. We finally decided upon 'every message' thinking there would be an auto-reply to every message she received from yesterday on. So, she typed in the following message [Sorry, I'm out of my mind......I mean out of my office] and activated it. Within the first minute we realized that by choosing 'every message' it had sent the auto-reply to every message that was currently in her inbox! And she is one of those persons that very rarely deletes a message - so there were hundreds and hundreds. Oh my gosh! We laughed so hard! She is screaming - Oh NO! oh NO! and laughing til she cried! Did I mention she is on many, many important committees in town - the hospital board, a college committee, co-director of United Way, and on and on! So, you can imagine some of the very important emails that were in her inbox! At least she saw the humor in it and I have no doubt that people will understand when they see it is from Denise! After we settled down from that she asked me something about iPhoto and I answered her question, looked at her and said, "Do you trust me?" She smiled and very matter of factly said, "No." :) Her husband was having some problems with his computer - which happens to be a Mac - in the basement, so I ran down there to take care of it - when I got back upstairs she had laid a check on the island. I hollered out the back door to her that there was no way I was accepting money!
Today - I emailed and asked how the fallout was going from the auto-reply message? I told her she should just tell her friends that her computer had a very rare virus and ask them if they had ever heard of the Moore Worm - to stay away from it, it is deadly! She replied and said about 10 people had responded and she was having a good laugh with it!

emotional

6th grade recognition - final day for 6th graders. About 1 minute into Mass I looked at one of the moms wiping tears from her eyes and decided I shouldn't look at her anymore! Then three of the kids read the farewell. Cenza, who has been my DCTV star for 4 years, was the last one to read. She read one sentence and broke down and sobbed. Mrs. Mack had to go up and console her - she sobbed through the rest of her speech. As I am trying to video tape this (without a tripod) the camera is so jiggly people will be sea-sick when they watch it and tears were streaming down my cheeks. Then it all ended with a special presentation of flowers to Janet, our aide who is retiring after many, many years. Janet is also a Pie Club member - of course she bawled like a baby and so did everyone else.
Speaking of Pie Club - I was listening to the radio this morning and Matt, from Bud's (where Pie Club meetings are held) was on. He has started a Bud's Pie Club!!!!! Buy 10 pieces of pie, get one free. Now, don't you think all Pie Club members should get their first card punched in full - after all - he is infringing on our club name rights!

movie night

So, Barb and I couldn't wait until we went to see Sex and the City tonight. I think she emailed me 5 times today saying how slow the day was going! :-) We weren't disappointed - loved the movie. We had both gotten hooked on the television show when it was on WGN after the 10:00 news. Then Barb started renting the DVD's and sharing them - the WGN version was much more tame! :) We were so glad we saw the movie together! We are ready to go back again tomorrow - but we won't!

nice weekend

This turned out to be a nice weekend in many ways. The weather was beautiful! Saturday I had an appointment early, so when I got home around noon I sat out back and listened to Grey's Anatomy podcasts on my Touch while Fred went to the Golf Course. Sunday, I actually got around early - did laundry and cleaned then we headed to Edon around 3:00. Fred trimmed shrubs and I planted a hibiscus and trimmed a couple of trees. So, today we could just be lazy and enjoy the day. Linda and Van came over and we all hurried down to the corner to watch the parade which consisted of the High School band and about 100 people bringing up the rear waving their little flags! Had Port-a-Pit chicken for lunch. After Linda and Van left I took Gma to Edgerton and we drove around the cemetery (because that is what you do on Memorial Day), stopped by Aunt Wilmetta's, went to Dollar General, and drove around the Edon cemetery on the way home (because that is what you do on Memorial Day)! :)
Now 11 more days of school and then it will be summer!!!

didn't forget

No, didn't forget about the blog - either I've been too busy or have nothing to say! :) Had a fun few days with Jasmine and Rylan and Kami, Eric, Alex, and Elizabeth last week. Spent the day alone with Rylan on Friday while Jasmine flew to Chicago for the day. She is such a sweetie.
Got to go to Alex and Elizabeth's last soccer games of the season - that is always fun.
Last week was a LONG week at school and mine was even a day short. Took Friday off to go to Ft. Wayne for Fred's Thallium Treadmill test. He said he went long and hard on the treadmill - didn't hear anything from Dr. Kelly today.
This is a busy week. Lots of tapings for DCTV - Spring Concert and Downtown Defiance video. Hope it goes fast!

may

It's May already! So hard to believe. And the weather just seems to like to tease us, still. Nice for a few days and then - like right now - the furnace is running! :( But, the trees are in bloom and are absolutely beautiful, so it looks like Spring is pretty much here. I'm sure summer is just around the corner.
Speaking of summer.......going to get a late, late start on that since we now have to go to school until June 10! All those snow/fog days were nice when we had them, but not so nice now that we have to go into the hot days of June.

feels like summer

I knew this would happen - it would go from cold to hot! It rained this morning and now it is very muggy. I snuck out of school early - thought Wilma and I would go to Ft. Wayne, but I can't find her! So, I will start scanning some pictures for a graduation slideshow I am doing. Wish someone was closer so we could go shopping together! :)

123

(okay - so I'm in a 3-6 grade library and there aren't many books with 123 pages! I grabbed the first "big" book I saw!)

The High King - Lloyd Alexander

As he reached the hill crest he saw flames and black billows of smoke.
At first he thought the camp had taken fire. He spurred Melynlas at top speed down the slope. As he drew closer, as the crimson tongues wavered against the sky in a bloodstained sunset and thesmoke rose and spread over the valley, he saw it was the Commot burning.
Outdistancing the troop, he galloped into Merin. Among the warriors from the camp, Taran glimpsed Eilonwy and Gurgi struggling vainly to quench the flames.

just a tease

Last weekend's weather was just a tease for us, I guess. Now it is cold and rainy and calling for snow tomorrow. :(

spring?

Well, it looks like it is Spring - but right now the temperature is 31 - so thinking it doesn't feel much like Spring! At least it isn't raining today and the sun is out!
Since Fred was in Anderson for the weekend I made a trip to Columbus on Saturday and basically held Rylan all afternoon! ;) Wilma rode along and I did let her hold Rylan for just a little bit!
Kami and kids are coming to Defiance for the weekend. Fred will be in Cincinnati this weekend so will be nice to have company.

almost over

Spring Break is almost over. It has been a lazy break. Went to Toledo w/Wilma yesterday and out to lunch with a friend today. Was hoping we could make it to Columbus this weekend, but doesn't look like that is going to happen. DC's Inv. at Kenyon was cancelled, but now they are going to Anderson, IN.
So, it has been a nice week - but I am ready to get back to school - only 9 weeks left!

dreaming of a white Easter

These were taken from the front window - who wants to go out in this on a March 22 morning?????
At least I can wear my new boots yet this year for Easter! :)

countdown

Counting down - one day to go and then a break.....can't wait! No plans. Setting up two computers in one of the classrooms, want to get that done right off the bat so I can have the rest of the week to do nothing! Wilma wants to go to a mall in Toledo and Catherine wants to go out for lunch.

more snow

It is still snowing and blowing here - but don't think we got near as much as Reid's and Kami's! In fact - it is so windy it blew the snow right across most of the driveway and we can see cement! It's already a lazy day and probably going to get lazier!

missing rylan

Kind of a downer this week. I miss seeing Rylan's cute little smile every morning. She sure is a sweetie! Loved spending last week with her.

this week

Hmmm..been awhile since I've posted. Celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary this week. Stopped at Bud's on the way to the DC game and Matt (the owner)brought out a lighted candle stuck in heartshaped pie dough. :) So sweet.
Tomorrow we will spend the entire afternoon at DC - a women's and men's game. I don't usually go if there are two games, but there are a couple of golf recruits that will be there so I will go.
Sunday we are going to Joe's in Springfield and either Fred will take me to Reid's from there or Reid will come and get me. Spending the week at Reid's to stay with Rylan during Jasmine's first week back at work. Can't wait!

special weekend

What a special weekend - having Reid, Jasmine and Rylan here! Hadn't seen them since New Year's Day - which was a long time in baby days! Rylan is so sweet - love it when she tries to talk and makes those goo-goo sounds! And she is SO cuddly!

fog day

Ummmm.....going to be really hard getting up when we start having normal school days again! Had a snow day last Friday, a 2 hour fog delay yesterday and a fog day off today! The fog never went away yesterday - just kept getting worse. And they are calling for rain tonight, turning to snow in the morning and an accumulation of 2-3 inches. So, not sure what tomorrow will bring. We are over our 5 alotted days, so looks like we won't be getting President's Day off.

February

Wow...here it is, February! Starting the month off with a day off of school. Maybe have about 3 inches of snow, but I think there was ice along with it this morning. I've been doing nothing on the day off! Going to make potato soup in a little bit and then I think I will print out pictures for in frames - need to update! And have lots of new pictures to update with.
Hmm..just found a new gameshow on TV - Crosswords. Who knew it was on at 2:30 in the afternoon?
Fred is off to the college for the second time today - February also is the first day of golf practice. They got a net and set it up in the stadium locker room, so they are hitting balls today.

nice day off

It was a nice day off. We went to Ft. Wayne - first stop, Panera's for lunch. Yum! Then to the Mall, Hobby Lobby, WalMart and Sam's Club. Nothing special, just a nice, sunny day to do this and that.

end of week.......start of week

Trying to decide if Sunday means the end of a week or the start of a week! It is fa-reezing in Ohio! The real temperature is 6 - not sure of the wind chill! Brrrrrr.
Van is to come home from the hospital today. It was a week ago last night that Linda took him to the ER (as he kept telling her to run the stop signs!) and only 4 days after his double bypass surgery. I think they are both ready for him to come home!
Today is laundry and MAYBE some cleaning. Tomorrow there is no school - think we are going to Ft. Wayne.

thanks to Ann

Well, I just made my first eBay sale! Thanks to Ann and all her patience with my questions that I usually ended up figuring out on my own - if I had just taken the time to check things out before bugging Ann!
So, it was fun and I'm thinking I am ready to do it again! :)

quiet and ......

It sure is quiet around here and I don't really like it! I miss all the giggles, the sound of little feet running around the house and , yes, even the occasional screaming and crying! Are you all getting tired of me saying how much I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED having everyone together at home for the holidays?