I Need To Brag About My Wife

Yep, it's true. I have the most amazing wife on the planet. Don't believe me? Just ask anyone who knows us and they will tell you that she is a very talented and amazing lady! Not only is she a scrapbooking guru and expert, she is amazing at crafting in general. And believe me, I fund some mighty amazing crafting. (I love you dear). Below is a small sample of what she will be selling next month at the local celebration here in town. We have rented a booth with my sister (http://www.petalspensandpots.com/) and I have a feeling that she will do amazingly well!

I think it is pretty clear how amazing my wife is. She even has people wanting her ideas so they can copy them and make money from them. Pretty tacky, but what ever works for them I guess. Just shows that she is even more talented than I thought. Everyday she completes a new set of words or several frame. Right now she is working on completing the words "baby". One in blue and one in pink. She will be doing "family", "love", "Joy", plus making many, many frames. Oh, she will even be doing some watermelon slices, and she already made a HUGE "summer" one. So much to brag about that I am rambling. So if you are in the area, swing by Melon Days and check out the goods.

I had to add this picture because 1) I took it and it is rare I get a good picture, but more importantly 2) It is such a great picture. I love this little 1 year trouble maker. He is INTO everything- and destroying it. We find things in the weirdest places (like the dirty clothes and even the toilet). Beware- he walks and opens!

Have a great day, and YEA! Michael Phelps won his 8th gold medal tonight! That was a close and exciting race. What an amazing athlete! Go America!

Later...

Finally, I Feel Ready! (Almost)

Ok, So I am not 100% done in my room, but I have my first day ready to go, the tables are ready with new crisp folders, and the room feels clean and welcoming. I agree with Damien Riley, a 4th grade teacher in CA. Teachers deserve praise the public doesn't even know they should be giving. (Read about it by clicking HERE.) He had a great point. I am very excited for the new year, just worn out from the long drawn out summer. But that is okay.

I think I found a new favorite quote. My kids were watching a new Garfield cartoon. Garfield was having a hard time getting what he needed to do done. He had this to say, "Every time I think I've hit rock bottom, someone hands me a shovel." This totally reaffirms the fact that it can ALWAYS be worse, so buck-up little campers and get on with it. So remember that as you go about this school year- someone could always hand you a shovel. It could always be deeper. Of course, when you are in trouble is not the time to be looking for the shovel... However that is another topic all together.

The last couple of days I was in a training session for level 5. I can't remember if I explained that, but whatever. It was long and I struggled to stay awake after all the long nights of watching the Olympics.

I was able to make it home by noon and water the garden, grass, pick the cucumbers (WOW we got lots), and work in my room. All this before my parents invited us up for pizza. My dad is going in on Monday to have his other knee replaced. So I will be mowing their lawn and other odd jobs for the next few weeks.

I think that about catches you up on my crazy life for the past few days. Remember to tell your friends about my amusing life! (and have them check it out!)

Later...

WOW! That Is All I Can Say.

After spending quite a few hours at the school getting things finalized, I was able to go out and eat with my little herd and my parents. That was great. Then we did family night. It was fun to talk with my son about his up coming baptism. Next, we got the kids in their jammies and headed up to my parents house. Because we missed the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics, my parents recorded it with the DVR. It was nice (and not only because we didn't have to live through advertisement every 5 minutes, thank heavens for fast forward, but we took a 4 and 1/2 hour TV showing, and watched the good stuff in less than 2! I think that China did a great job with it. I loved the drums, I loved the type-set boxes that went up and down. I think that the LCD screen that was like a football field+ was cool and I really liked the end where the guy "ran" around the entire upper rim before lighting the cauldron.

The Globe was neat as well.

Then we watched as the men's gymnastics took bronze (which is good, but they could have had silver). We left to come home after midnight. These late nights are killing me, but it is the only time my wife and I can sit together and actually talk without the traumas of parenthood preventing a moment to discuss life!

I have a church meeting a few minutes, then lunch, and back to the school. Tomorrow I am heading out to our D.O. (District Office for those of you who are NOT teachers reading this) for training. The district is paying for me to...(Wait, I should say they are REIMBURSING me IF I get B or higher grades) get my Masters Degree in Administration. In order to do THAT, I have to be a level 5 in our district (which I won't take the time to explain except for this: It is a program that allows me to make a little extra money by doing A LOT of extra-curricular/after school workshops, etc.) Anyways, all this is to explain that I have 30 hours of training for level 5 and some of it takes place the next two days.

I look at the countdown timer at the top of the page and my heart stops, then I think, hey, I am ready- BRING IT ON! :)

Well, off to my meeting. Have a great day, Cheer for the USA in the Olympics, and,

Later...

8 Lousy Days!

Yep, That is all that is left before school starts. But in a way I am excited as well. It will be nice to be back on a schedule. Today was a good day. I woke up late for my meeting and was a little late. My counselors were waiting outside the locked church door for me when I arrived.
I hate being late.

When we got home from church I went to water the lawn only to find that the irrigation water was STILL out of the gravity ditch. So I had to start watering with city water (and we pay almost $4 per 1000 gallons- OUCH!) Thankfully half way through our friend and neighbor called and informed us the water was back in. So I was able to get our lawn watered for a much cheaper price.

Here is a picture of our yard:

Okay, maybe this is more of a picture of our house than our yard, and what a mighty fine home it is! :)



Here is another view of the house that has more of the yard in it:


We have really worked hard to get it looking this nice. When we bought the house almost 3 years ago, the weeds in front of the house were so tall that you couldn't see anything of the house but the roof! It took a long time but we slowly got the front yard ready to go. For two years all we had we a dirt yard. We were able to add flowerbeds last year and that really helped the yard. This year we added the grass in front. It really improved the house and yard. It actually looks like a house now. At least that is what my wife says!

Unfortunately this is happening to our lawn:

I am frustrated that these dead spots are popping up ALL over my lawn. We have tried just about everything from grub killer to more water to less water. I think that I just might be the neighbors millions cats using our lawn as a litter box. I hope I don't EVER catch them doing it or there is going to be a HUGE problem!


Well! I hope that you all have a great evening! I am enjoying the last 15 minutes of the Olympic coverage. Have a great night, and thanks for reading!

Later...

Bad Luck Hits Again!

Well Dear Readers,

My life continues to be what it is. I have had a few ups today and a few down and a total loss of control!

Let's see. Let's start with the few ups shall we?
1) Tutoring went well. I was very touched when the grandmother gave me a copy of "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. We had been discussing the book and she said I just had to read it. I asked if I could borrow her copy when she was done, and today she handed me a copy and told me it was mine.
2) I was able to help clean up our house. It felt nice to help out my wife. She is SO swamped with doing her Melon Days sales items that she needs the extra help. (As to what she is doing- it is fantastic! I really think we will be able to make some good money selling them. I really hope to have pictures for them soon.)

For the downs:
1) I am still SO FAR from done in my classroom that it is almost depressing. And I think I need to remove the count down timer. It is making me stressed and nervous!
2) The humidity is killing me. (I am truly thankful that we had 6 hours of a light rain. It watered our yard REALLY well.)

And for the Blow-Up:
1) Well, it all started when we ordered Breaking Dawn Stephanie Meyer from Amazon.com, ended up cancelling it and ordering from Barnes and Noble because they have never let me down on the 3-day shipping. Well, 4 days later, and the tracking showing that the book is still in MD, I was a little miffed, not to mention my wife! So I called customer service and was told that I was out of luck. I asked to talk to a supervisor, and was told that it was my fault. I could give you all the grisly details about it but I am trying to not be angry about it any more. I told them that everything we ordered will be coming back, to cancel my on-line account, and that I will not EVER be buying anything with them again. I was beyond angry. What is up with these companies that think they can totally put off their customers and have a customer base for tomorrow? I would say don't support them, but the way my life is going and if you followed that advice, you wouldn't even be able to buy toilet paper. So, I guess another business down the drain.

I think that I will go to bed now. It is late and I am tired. We are going to my sister's tomorrow to watch the Castle Vally Pageant and visit for a few hours.

The Olympics starts tomorrow! YEA! I am sad that I am missing the opening ceremonies, but that is life (especially mine).

Later...