Last of the photos from the scavenger hunt

I have previously posted my photos for the scavenger hunt at Postcards, but still had three more to post before the sadness hit my household. Here are the last three (keep in mind these were taken on my phone, so the quality isn't as good):
a park bench-there are two, on both sides of the big, old pine


a big truck (I posted two: I took a picture of the UPS truck but it was rather far away, and a bit blurry. Then I saw the second truck on my street.)




and a bridge


Hope you've enjoyed my photos! :)

Missed many more...

But we are finally home from a very long week. We found out about my husband's grandmother on Valentine's Day, went on the following Wednesday to Indiana to be at her visitations and funeral. We headed back from there Thursday evening, got home late. We did laundering of funeral clothes on Friday, packing, etc. Then Saturday headed to Michigan for my uncle's funeral. I was lucky enough to be able to take part in the service by writing and speaking a "thank you from the family" which was very meaningful. My own "goodbye", so to speak. It was hard to do without crying through the entire thing, as I am a cry-er, but it went well. It's always interesting to see family you haven't seen in a long time. I experienced that at both.

Then, on our way home yesterday, we encountered very bad weather-not like the quakes in NZ, I hope everyone is well there!-but bad for driving! We got about an hour from my family's home and were right behind an accident. My dad said they'd talked about it on the news-12 vehicles; 3 semis and 9 cars. We sat there for an hour. As we sat, more snow, ice, and sleet came down. There were never "good" roads, the entire way. The trip that takes us 3 hours normally took us 7-7 1/2 yesterday. We got home around 8:30pm.

Here the schools had a 2 hour delay, but not enough to close schools. I had the day off due to a teacher day, but I have the washer and dryer chugging away. I got to drop both our daughters off at school, then run to the grocery... we had only one roll of toilet paper for three bathrooms! So, I picked that and some laundry detergent-hopefully I can make a dent today! When I got home from the grocery my mom called to check in and chat for a few minutes. Now I'm updating my blog and then back to work.

I'm looking forward to getting back to my students tomorrow! It's been too long! :)

It's also been too long since I wrote in my journal, wrote in my gratitude list and blogged, among other things. I did keep up with reading daily, whether magazines, books or newspapers. I also ran 5 miles on Saturday morning before we left! What a great stress reliever, even with the wind! :) Of course, I haven't ran since... but that's life. Thank you for your hugs and sympathy, dear readers. Hope this week turns out more positive!

Missed One February 18, 2011

I was doing so well posting everyday. Until I missed yesterday.
We headed out of state for my husband's grandmother's funeral. I had computer access, but didn't post. Then, on the way home, my family called and said my uncle had passed away yesterday. We'll be heading there sometime soon for his funeral. Two in one week. So much for "positively mom" posting, hm? Life, though, isn't it? Thank you for the hugs and well wishes, my faraway friends.

Thinking of the positives:many good memories of Grandma Betty, we traveled safely, we got to see family we haven't seen in many years (although under sad circumstances...) We had good weather to travel in-some Februarys have held snow... I kept up with my photos (although the journaling, reading, exercising, and watching what I ate have slipped...)

Hopefully next week is back to normal?
Thanks for your support and warmth, Dear Readers.

February 16, 2011

Thank you for your sympathies, friends, and for reading my posts, even when they are not full of "positives". :) Your words and thoughts are appreciated.

I'm really thankful for friends and neighbors who stepped in to help when my husband's grandmother died, like letting our dogs out/feeding them.

Something silly I'm thankful for-a clean shaven face. :) My husband has been growing a beard for a while. He recently shaved it off. Sometimes we forget how much we appreciate things. :)

I appreciate you for stopping by for a visit, Dear Reader. I knew I needed to post-I'm no a roll of 16 days! Even though I don't have a tremendous amount to say. :) This last week I haven't written in my journal much, gotten much laundry done or read as much as I'd hoped, but I will get back to it.

I hope you are well. Take care!

February 15, 2011 tonight

Tonight I think of my husband's grandmother who passed away on February 14.
She was such a nice lady. She had been battling age, illness and loneliness for a while, now.
She had turned 90 last September. We had a nice party for her and she was so surprised. :)
She was at that point health-wise where you want better things, but it still so sad.
Her husband has been gone for 12 years. Our oldest daughter said that Grandma must be having a nice Valentine's Day, being reunited with Grandpa...
Our girls haven't really experienced this type of sadness of someone they knew so well, and loved so dearly.
Now we head over for the funeral and visitation services.

Hope you're having a better week.

February 14, 2011 Happy Valentine's Day

My husband and I decided not to give each other gifts.
Then today when I got home from school there were packages on my doorstep.
There were three little stuffed bears-adorable!-one for each of us girls.
And an edible arrangement of chocolate covered strawberries. Yum!
I had a meeting at my daughter's school, so we had take-out Chinese after, just the hubby and I.
A wonderful evening!

Hope you had a wonderful day, also!

February 13, 2011

Just a quick post tonight. We had a really busy weekend away with my husband's family. We saw some very cool water falls that had frozen. Will post more tomorrow. :) Have a wonderful week!

February 12, 2011

I am very much looking forward to the warmer weather! The sun was out yesterday and it was delightful. I had hoped to get a run in, but with both girls' practices ending and needing rides and a family activity coming up, I didn't really have the time. I hope I'm not to out of shape to run when I do have time! :) Oh, I suppose I could get up at 5am, but that is an adjustment I'm not ready for.

I'm still reading books and the Bible each day, still reading Jeremiah for our life group. I worked on Jeremiah 26 & 27 today. I am not exercising every day like I'd hoped, but have been working on it about four days a week. I am journaling each day, also, so the goals for February are mostly positive.

Yesterday's post mentioned memories and misty eyes. I thought throughout the day of those memories of our small daughters, and how I needed to scrapbook those memories! I was talking to one of the teachers and we were talking about how dads do things differently, not better or worse, just differently. I remember one evening, well, several evenings, when I would get home from a college class and my husband would have fed and dressed the girls. They were running from our kitchen and jumping over two stairs into our lower level living room. My husband had covered the floor with couch and chair cushions so their landing was soft...They were giggling and having so much fun-all three grinning. I worried about injuries, etc, but it warmed my heart that they had that time together and were so enjoying each other.

February 11, 2011

Today was an interesting day. The school where I work was filled with Valentine's Day parties. I walked to each of the rooms I work with, and some I don't, to see if I was needed, but there were many parents there. I wasn't needed. As I thought about this, I thought that it wasn't that long ago when I was the room mother, planning games or at least stopping in at each girl's school party-for every season and holiday. I got to see all those moments, like our oldest daughter crying at one party over a game, which I thought was silly, until she later explained she didn't like everyone staring at her and yelling at her to finish her part of the relay-her school shyness showing itself.

Then I got home and I read this post from MOMO. With our oldest kids being so close in age, I am not far behind this moment and it made me misty-eyed. I know we want our kids to be independent, but we want them to need us, to want us to be part of their lives, too... It was a surreal thought-to think of how fast they are "on their own"...

I'm thankful we have good kids, but am scared of the world they enter. Hope you're about to start a wonderful weekend! :)

February 10 2011 More Pics

I started posting my photos yesterday from Postcards from the PP site. Notes from yesterday: Molly, computers were the way to go, but I still love the piano! :) Thimbleanna, the shoes are actually very comfy, and I am not normally a fan of things between my toes, but the material they are made of is wonderful! :) Can't wait to wear them outside more! :)
Here are some more photos! :)
Newspaper Headline from the day after we got more snow and ice:


a postbox-our white mailbox in front of our white, snow covered yard: :)


eyes-my youngest daughter, sorry I couldn't get a great one close up enough to see her beautiful blue eyes, in the morning of the snow day. :) Also, some pics of my dogs' eyes. :) They were snuggled all in on the snow day, too. :)






Something heart shaped and something red-I have both these items, with both these last two photos for today




I have three more photos to share later. They were the hardest for me to find. :) Hope you've had a great week thus far! :)

February 9 2011

I have mentioned lately that I have been working on photos for the scavenger hunt on this blog and thought I'd show some of the photos thus far. Here are:
my shoes-these are my vibrams that I haven't worn much lately due to all the snow and ice and treadmill dreading. I'm looking forward to some warmer days in the next week or so, hoping to get out in them.


something with stripes-my beloved snowmen from my collection (wasn't sure which photo to share, so I picked a simple one)


a musical instrument-my husband's grandmother's piano. She let us have it when she moved from a house to an apartment. Our girls have taken piano lessons, played many times on it filling our home with delightful music.


And last for today, a round face clock. My in-laws got us this for Christmas one year. They gave hints as to our Christmas gifts, including it's too big to fit in your car... my husband thought big screen tv! :) We got this clock. We found the perfect spot for it and I love it. I especially love the smell of wood on the inside. It reminds me of, fittingly, my grandfather and father, who enjoyed carpentry. More to come tomorrow! :)

February 8 2011

Another evening, another blog post. Didn't go out and run on the ice today, nor the treadmill. I drove a lot... do those miles count? :) Just picking up the girls, dropping off the girls, etc. "Mom's taxi" as they say. I enjoy time with each of them to hear about their day before they dig into their homework. It was one of the few nights during that we aren't all eating dinner together. We try, but some nights, with all their activities, we just can't make it work unless we want to eat at 8pm, and the girls don't appreciate that. :) Do you/did you try to eat dinner together as a family each night with your children?

The weather has gone from snowy to bitter cold, but there is light at the end of the week, I heard in the forties-which is a heat wave compared to the current temps. I look forward to the snow and ice melting and some good running weather. I haven't smelled any skunks lately, though, so spring isn't that close. I have heard birds singing a lot lately. I don't remember if I've mentioned before that my grandfather says skunks are the true sign of spring? :)

One of the other things I've been trying to do each day of February, like blogging and exercising, is writing in a gratitude journal-I have a regular journal, but this is a list of things I'm thankful for. It's basically a numbered spreadsheet and I try to write/fill in 1-4 things I'm grateful for each day and a small note next to it to job my memory when I look back. It's a nice positive way to remind myself how lucky/blessed I am. :)

I have all but three photos for this photo challenge I mentioned the other day-the February one-and I hope to post them in February although I am greatly enjoying Molly and Anna's pictures from previous photo challenges! Thanks, Molly! :) Hope your midweek has settled in positively!

February 7 2011

I am trying to think of things to post tonight that are "interesting" to a reader. My eyes and mind are sleepy. I had a good day; I'm still enjoying my job and working with great kids each day. I love going in a classroom to gather the group/student I'm about to work with and having many of them raise their hands and hope I'm picking them. I like that it seems like fun to come learn with me! :) I hope absorption of the information is happening when they come out! :)

I got my hair cut on Friday evening. My hair had gotten almost to my shoulders, but not quite. I could put it in a short ponytail, even. I decided I was (already!) tired of growing it out. I told her I wanted it short. Woa, she cut it short! I was worried as she cut... and cut... and cut... (you get the idea. ;)) Then the ritual began-the hairdresser worked and worked, styling my hair. I nervously liked it. I got home, my family said it looked nice, and then the next day I had to try to recreate the hairstyle. It is difficult to get it where I want it, but my wonderful husband has complimented it almost each day, if not more than once per day, which has been a great boost to my esteem! :)

I am thoroughly enjoying the sounds of my house right now: my two daughters discussing World War II. This doesn't sound fun, but my younger daughter is helping my oldest daughter study for a test tomorrow. It is a nice exchange. My oldest daughter is basically teaching my younger daughter, which is one of the best ways to learn/ingrain that information into a mind. :) My dog-who is not supposed to be upstairs-is beside me in my upstairs den snoring away. :) My garage door is opening, right now, also, and my husband is pulling in after a long day at work.

More snow is blowing in right now. I am glad I went out in it to run this afternoon when it wasn't quite so bad. I have ran four days in a row, thus far. Yeah! :) I ran four miles on Saturday. My legs were sore, today.

I hope your week has gotten off on the right foot, today! Have a great week, Dear Reader!

February 6, 2011

The work week starts again tomorrow.
The weekend flew by... although when doesn't it? :)
We spent time with family and friends, laughing and praying with our kids.
The weekend couldn't have been spent any better. :)

Blessings to you, Dear Reader.
I hope your weekend was wonderful also. :)

February 5 2011

Recently I read a few articles that were inspiring to me so I thought I'd share.

The first is from the book/blog Run Like a Mother-but it doesn't only pertain to running. I think this quote can apply to every aspect of our lives: "The next time you’re on a run and every fiber of your body is flipping you off, stand in the rain a little longer than you think you can.

Because even though I can’t predict when lightning will strike, I do know this: it won’t hit anybody who doesn’t regularly get wet."

The second and third are from Kristin Armstrong's Mile Markers posts. The first is about "Leaving UR" where we need to push ourselves out of our comfort zones sometimes, our Usual Routines and I found it encouraging. I also enjoyed her latest post "Undercurrent of Adventure"-it made me smile. I find Kristin's blog very positive and I look forward to new posts.

I hope you are having a great weekend, Dear Reader.

February 4 2011

Friday! :) I say this as if it has been a long week, although we had two snow/ice days in the midst of it. I had a great week. I just like weekends. For some reason I feel as if I get more accomplished... although I don't always. :)

What's on your list for the pending weekend? We have a track meet, a basketball game and church/church life group to attend this weekend, and are planning on working on our bedroom. We want to paint it and move furniture around.
I need to do the regulars, also, like: document for school/work, laundry, house clean, etc. But it always feels so good to get those things done. I still need to update my resume, also.

I'm hoping to get a run in tomorrow before the snow moves back in, too. There was actually sunshine today. Blessed sunshine. I got three miles in, and even with the wind stinging my face, the sun felt so good it made me smile! :) So much better than the treadmill. My husband noted this week that I'm a different person-or same person, different outlook-when I run. I feel it, too. Here's to more pleasant runs and feeling like myself! :)

I've been taking pictures for this photo scavenger hunt, and I have almost all the photos done so far... Just a few more to go! I will post when I get them finished.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

February 3 2011

It was good to get back to school today. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being home with my daughters!! I was just ready to get back into our routine. During the two days off I had just about caught up on laundry and emptied and reassembled my office/den/scrapbook supplies (Phew! I'd been wanting to do that for a while!). It feels nice and clean in my office, like I can breathe and get things done! :) That is a wonderful feeling. I also got phone calls made, got the girls to the dentist, made Cathy Zelske's chicken soup... well, sort of. I didn't have the whole chicken and didn't feel like going back out to get it so I made the second step with premade chicken broth and a little bit of white wine. It turned out great! I had leftovers today for lunch and it was good reheated, also!

Speaking of food and food recipes, I think I have developed an aversion to eggs. I'm not 100% sure, so I'm going to start keeping a food journal tomorrow. The last few times I had fried eggs I got sick within an hour or two, and I mean SICK. Then I had quiche, and same response (although quiche didn't used to do that to me). I also had some yummy food at a restaurant with my husband-I didn't go crazy on the food or anything, but I got sick in about the same time frame. I was confused since I hadn't eaten any eggs so I mentioned it to my husband. He noted that I had dipped some cabbage rolls in aioli sauce... I ate all the aioli sauce... in the ingredients? Yep, raw egg. So, I'm going to do this food journal thing and see.

That's all for today. Three posts in a row. :) Hope you are well and happy, Dear Reader. :)

February 2 2011

I subscribe to google reader. It updates me every time a blog I like (or love) puts up a new post. They're all in the same place so I don't need to click through tons of blogs each day to check and see if there is something new. I like that. I can categorize the blogs I read, also, such as scrapbooking or food/recipe. I can "star" posts I want to read again, I can mark them as unread if I want to take more time with it later or I can leave it alone and read it later.

Today Reader notified me that one of my favorite blogs by Stephanie Howell : "Just me, my soldier and our 4 little chicks" had been updated. Stephanie has the best writing style, especially when she's writing to her family members. I love that. I love her honesty, I love her letters to her family members. That's one of the best ways to scrapbook. I am committed to doing this for my girls-this week, maybe even today. Well, I'm going to try. :)

We're home again today due to ice, power outages and strong winds. Love being home and catching up on laundry, cleaning, documenting information for my school job, organizing, phone calls, letter writing... well, what I actually get done, that is. :) Thankfully we haven't lost power.

I completed all the things on my "February" checklist yesterday. And I have blogged two days in a row! :) I hope you are well, where ever you are... and hopefully you see pleasant signs of new seasons, like Molly's peach tree buds ready for spring-I am so envious. ;)

February 1

They used to say it took two to three weeks to start a new habit, or to replace a bad habit with a good one. I just read this week that they've changed that to 28 days. I found that interesting. No wonder good eating and exercise habits are so difficult to get ingrained. I decided, since February is 28 days long, it would be a good time to start some new, good habits. Some of my goals have fallen but I'm determined to pick them up again. Maybe after February they'll be full-fledged habits? :)

We had gotten some snowy weather here, as well as ice, a couple weeks ago. That was enough to break my daily running habit. The news here, yesterday, was predicting bad weather again today, with ice, so I made myself brave the cold wind (although there was a peek of sunshine yesterday! :)) and I got 3.3 miles in. My legs aren't sore today and I felt great the rest of the afternoon. I'm going to brave the dreadmill... I mean treadmill today. Hoping to stay on it for three miles. It always seems like so much longer to get the distance done, though. We're hoping to rearrange the bedroom (where the treadmill sits) so it faces something other than the wall. Maybe that will help?

I have written sporadically in my journal the last couple weeks. Not daily as I'd hoped, but I haven't quit yet. :) Also, I have had one cup of Starbucks since we talked last. I'm ok with that. :) It was a nice treat with the family on a chilly day last week.

I finished the Girl in the Green Raincoat and have started The Pumpkin Muffin Murder by Livia J Washburn. That was my word/one of my goals: to read more, and I finished two books in January! :) I've been in the mood for mysteries, but the three I've read or started this year have been very different from each other. The last one had more suspense. I'm going to see which of Laura Lippman's books our library has and try to read some more of her mysteries. I've also been reading the Book of Jeremiah from my Bible for our life group. It's a hard book, with all the prophesying but I'm sticking with it. We need to read 17 chapters of it by Sunday. This is one of the verses I liked thus far Jeremiah 9:23-24: 23 This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, 24 but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.

I also finished making the scrapscription "Let's Party!" album for our 16 year old daughter and am hoping to put the pictures/stories in today.

We have a "snow" day today-it's actually due to ice-so I'm hoping to tackle a lot from my "to do" list today! :) The dryer is going and I'm almost done with my blog post! :) I'm hoping to post each day in February. I've never been able to post daily for a month before, like Molly and her sister. :)

What are some things you'd like to try doing daily for the 28 days of February?