Thursday, January 29, 2009

Snow

Our last two days have been filled with snow. On Tuesday night the flakes started. Small, fluttering flakes. Those flakes gradually increased in size and intensity. There was a break overnight, but that was for the freezing rain to come in and leave half an inch to an inch of ice in its wake. Then the snow came again. By ten that evening, schools had been canceled. About 500 area schools were closed, most of the schools in the state, actually. Even my husband stayed home during our level two snow emergency, and worked from home. He took a lunch break and we all shoveled the driveway, chipping away at the ice and snow, together. Today the kids were off from school, again, but the husband made the trek into work, arriving there safely. We are supposed to receive another inch of snow this afternoon/evening, as well. We have used up all our "calamity" days for the school year. The last day of school is supposed to be June 10, but if we miss any more days of school due to the weather, we will progress further into June to make them up. We three girls trudged out into the weather today in search of boots for my youngest daughter. She did not mention to me that her boots were WAY too small until Tuesday. Due to the recent weather, there were not very many pairs of boots to be found in the surrounding areas, let alone in her specific size. We did end up finding some men's boots small enough to fit her feet, and are exceptionally warm. When she came in today, I made this homemade hot chocolate with a few sprinkles of cinnamon, too. :)
Running... I went four good miles on Sunday, although all the paths and streets were covered in a thin layer of ice and snow on top of that. The flakes falling down that day were beautiful, but my knees did not like the sliding. I felt wonderful afterward, like I'd gotten in a great workout. Then, this new weather hit, and it isn't fit to be running outside without spikes on your shoes!
Since writing last, our countertop came in and looks great. We're waiting on someone to come do the tiled backsplash, though, so it's not quite complete, but getting there.
We had a busy weekend last week. Our "baby" girl, our oldest daughter, turned fourteen on Friday. We had family over that night for hamburgers, per her request, and homemade carrot cake for dessert. Then, Saturday morning, she wanted her hair cut for her birthday, a nice haircut. So, I took her and looks wonderful, although too old. :) Saturday we attended a wedding reception for a friend. Then we picked up a friend of our daughter's and took them both to "get their fingernails done"... which included painting their real nails, not applying fake ones. :) We ordered pizza, and the friend was picked up in time for us to attend church on Sunday. After church we signed up to be Sunday School teachers. I'm looking forward to it! What new challenges/adventures are you considering starting?
I have finished the book The Thirteenth Tale. I thought it started kind of slow, probably because it wasn't what I was expecting, but it definitely reeled me in as I read, and by the last third of the book I didn't want to put it down! Now I have to look over the questions in the back, so I feel ready to discuss it in the book club that is starting Feb 13. What are you reading?
I think that's it for us these last ten days. :) Hopefully you are well.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Fallen off

Seems as if I've fallen off my blog posts. I was doing so well for a while, posting frequently. Not much to say, as of late, I guess.
I am happy to report that it seems our countertop will arrive sooner than expected and is coming this Thursday! Just a few things left to complete the whole transformation: light fixtures and one other wall detail for now, I think.
The laundry room came out as nicely as I'd hoped, although I still have one photo/canvas detail to finish up and hang up. I was thinking this week that I feel blessed to be able to afford these things right now, in a bad economy.
Speaking of economy, looking forward to the inauguration this week. Hopefully wonderful changes ahead.
My family came down for the weekend and it was very nice, as always.
I haven't taught much lately, but I feel like I've gotten a lot done here at home. I rearranged my "office" and cleaned everything out. After painting the kitchen, my husband and I went through all the cupboards and got rid of a lot that we don't use. I also cleaned out the cupboards in the laundry room. We had a charity come on the 12th and pick up things, so we put out about 8 laundry baskets/trash bags full: clothes, kitchen items and more! It was such a nice feeling. Another charity is scheduled for rounds in our neighborhood on the 28th, I think, so I'm hoping to do basement purging and prepare another load! :) Just feeling like we have too much STUFF.
I've also updated my resume, with a few questions remaining, and am taking it to some new schools this week. Scary and exciting all at the same time. :)
I have been working on my one little word, "peace", this month. I looked up "peace" in the concordance of my Bible and have been reading a verse per day, along with the daily devotional and daily Bible reading. I'm still working on the book of Romans, right now, but am 2/3 the way done. I also ordered a peace ring from LizEaton, and a peace charm from Beautiful Soul. I ordered a "faith" charm last year from the same shop. I wore it everyday and really liked it.
I also saw this "butterfly chandelier"
in a pottery barn kids store this weekend, while shopping with my parents. I loved it, but thought 79 dollars was a lot. I thought I could do it myself, but it didn't turn out like I'd hoped. I couldn't find the metal hoops, so I bent metal hangers, which didn't come out large enough to get the full effect. I couldn't find a butterfly punch, so I used flowers, and on one daughter's I lined them up, and on one I didn't, so they look more like a round flower.

Our oldest daughter turns 14 this week! I look at her and she looks so much older these days.
The running had taken a toll on my knees, I think it's the extra weight I have on right now, or the getting older, I'm not sure. :) Anyway, I started walking, fast pace, at an incline, on the treadmill indoors, instead of out on the ice and below 0 temps, and I have felt pretty good. I'm looking forward to getting back outside and running more. I just don't like running on the treadmill.
I am about to start reading the Thirteenth Tale for the online book club I had mentioned previously. We start discussions the second week in February, if anyone is interested in joining.
That's about all the update from here. I hope you are well, and enjoying winter... :))

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

January 2-7

Since I posted last, our oldest had her wisdom teeth removed and recovered nicely. The first three days she was in a lot of pain, swelling, and had a hard time eating, but on the fourth day she was virtually back to normal! She takes an advil here and there, if she eats something particularly difficult, but other than that, she's done great! She's gone to school everyday this week!
We started repainting the kitchen that Friday afternoon, once our girl was settled, and got 99% of the first coat done. Then Saturday we did the second coat. I am so happy with the color! It's a burnt orange looking color and I really like it!
We got our countertop template made yesterday and were told the counter may be in on the 27th, which is earlier than expected! Yeah! :) Today we get the kitchen table and hall tree, but the baker's nook was damaged, so we won't get that until Monday.
I haven't had any sub jobs, so I've been working around here. Yesterday (all day!) I stripped the wallpaper out the laundry room and am going to prime and paint today. Yeah! If I make it look cheery in there, I won't mind doing laundry, right? ;) ha!
I have been running. I didn't run yesterday, but have run quite a bit before that. I got in 6 on Saturday, 3 on Sunday, 3.3 on Monday and then missed yesterday.
I get a newsletter from Real Simple magazine, and saw this which sounded like a good thing to do in the new year: 31 ideas for 31 days, some activities that will take fifteen minutes each, but will benefit/organize.
Hope your new year is off to a wonderful start! :))

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope it has started off wonderfully! We kicked off 2009 at the in laws', with kids, games and yummy snacks. We spent the night there, as is the new tradition, started in '08, and then headed home after breakfast. When we returned home, I put dinner on the stove to cook: our annual meal of corned beef and cabbage. We have cabbage on New Year's because it's a superstition that if you eat cabbage on the first day of the year, it will bring you good luck all year long.
We went, later in the day, to a furniture store and ordered a new cubby/hall tree for the entry by the garage door. This is where we all enter most, and the kids drop their school bags, we all leave our shoes... etc. It gets cluttered. Thus, the hall tree. We also ordered a kitchen table and a "baker's rack" to go with our "old world" decor. We've had our table for several years, after buying it used, and it's seen better days. We will be painting the kitchen soon. The company who is making our countertop will come to make a template on Tuesday, hopefully delivering the actual counter before the estimated 5 week date, and the furniture will be delivered Wednesday.
I have ran the last two days, since my last post, albeit slowly due to the awful winds we still have. The day before yesterday I could barely open my eyes in the wind and blowing snow, so I cut the run short. Today my eyes watered, but I ran the 4.25 miles, anyway. I have ran 6 out of the last 8 days, so I'm pretty happy with that. Now if I can just quit the Starbucks... I'm going to try. :)
Made any new year's resolutions? Or picked one little word? I am using "peace" this year. Last Sunday's sermon at church was about God's peace, how to work on it, like to avoid worry (I am a huge worrywart!) pray first. So I am sad to see "Faith" go as my word, but am ready to welcome and work on peace in my life, with less worry. We'll see how it works out tomorrow, while our oldest daughter is having surgery to remove her wisdom teeth. Speaking of, please keep her in your prayers and thoughts tomorrow morning, if you can. Thank you, Lanne for the email you sent to us about that! It was so thoughtful! :) And made us smile.
I hope you all ended 2008 nicely and are headed into the new year happily and healthy! :)