cleaning house

Josh went to Silver Dollar City yesterday with Karl's mom, dad and cousins, so Karl and I used that time to get the Christmas things put away and I cleaned house. I still want to clean some more things like the catch all areas, Karl's desk and the kitchen bar are catch all areas in our house. I need to get those cleaned up. I started washing the curtains last night. I have the curtains in our room left and I will be done. Karl is sleeping, so when he wakes up I will get started. I want to get this stuff done before I go back to work.
I made the dogs more cookies last night, Darylynn, freezing the dough was fine, I let it thaw and then used my cookie cutters and baked. It turned out good. The dogs were excited.
The weather here is wonderful, near 60 and they are saying Saturday it will be 65. I am excited. The temperature is dropping on Sunday, but only to the 40's, so no big deal.
I got my teacher certification yesterday. The university said it would take 6-8 weeks, but I have it, so I got that stuff sent to the school I work for so they can update my file. Glad thhat is taken care of.
We do not have any special plans for New Year's Eve. We have a party on New Year's day though with Karl's family. They do that every year, it is their Christmas get together. That is what is going on here. I am going to try and visit blogs again. Have a very Happy New Year!!

dermatologist

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas!! It was good here. My parents came and we had a good time. Josh and I took lots of pictures, I think he has the good ones, but here is one I took of Josh opening presents. It was a nice day.
I haven't done much since Christmas and I am enjoying it. I have been trying to get things updated with my phone. I finally got into my old centurytel e-mail account and was able to get my twitter password, so I have that on my phone now and I was messing with Foursquare, but I had to charge my phone. That is all I have been doing and playing my games at facebook. I am planning to get Christmas things taken down and get the house cleaned up today or tomorrow. We have also been watching a lot of movies.
I made an appointment this morning to see the dermatologist. I have a spot on my tummy that should not be there and it needs to be removed. It makes me nervous. Hopefully it is just a spot that is non cancerous and will be removed and it will be over. Pray about it if you do not mind. I go January 24th.
Well, we have another Christmas get together on New Year's Day with Karl's family. I go back to work on Monday. Josh goes back to school too.
Josh is going to Silver Dollar City tomorrow to see the lights, it is beautiful this time of year there. He will love it. He is going with Karl's mom and dad and cousins. The weather is supposed to be near 60, so nice weather for it.
I better get going. Have a nice week!! Happy New Year 2012!!

Christmas Eve.

It has been a fun week. We did some Christmas shopping...nothing like waiting until the last minute. We went to see a movie at the theater, which we never do. We saw The Muppets. It was cute. Josh and I have been baking cookies. We made double chocolate chip cookies one day and dog cookies the next. I made oatmeal raisin the other night. I plan to bake chocolate chip next week or so, once we have eaten what we have. The dogs are enjoying their dog cookies. I got the recipe over at Darylynn's blog. It is the first one Canine Coookies. I did freeze part of the dough like Darylynn suggested.
It is Christmas Eve. We have just been cleaning house today. We groomed the dogs yesterday. We are also watching movies. Tonight we have Cars 2 and Pirates of the Carribean (the most recent one). I have a couple of things I want to get made this evening for Christmas dinner tomorrow, but for the most part, we will make all of it tomorrow. My mom is bringing desserts and homeade stuffing.
I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Craziness

Last week was crazy!! My final was on Monday night. I had an oral presentation of how I plan to work with familes. It went well and I got an A in the class. I am done with college!! Yay!! Then Tuesday was Josh's band concert, that was a lot of fun. The band sounded great. Wednesday I baked cookies for the Christmas party at the preschool on Thursday and did laundry and Thursday was the Christmas party for the kids, they got lots of gifts and I think they had a good time. Friday we started taking Christmas things down at the preschool and decorating for Winter. We will finish with classroom things on Monday. We are also getting more new students we need to get ready for. I also marked IEP's and did lesson plans for first week of January. We start our Christmas break on Tuesday. Josh is already finished, his Christmas break has started. The picture is of my co-worker Natalie and myself taken last week. I am standing behind Natalie, we were being silly. Then the picture below is me at home with Meisha in front of the Christmas tree. Meisha turned 1 year old.

Today I would like to get out and so some Christmas shopping. I just need to get something for my mom and dad. I have no idea what to get them. I also would like to get Josh some more things. We got him an Ipod for Chrismtas, but I would like to grab something else for him as well.
We are hosting Christmas this year at our house. I am excited. We did Thanksgiving at my parent's house.
I am really not sure what to do with myself since I do not have to study or do homework. I keep thinking I need to get busy doing homework and I am done. It has not sunk in that I am done. I should get my certificate in January and I am also testing for another certificate in mid January. I stay busy, but hopefully things will calm down a bot now. I will probably post again, but if not...Merry Christmas!!

Black Friday

Ok, so first I should say Thanksgiving was a lot of fun and we had tons of wonderful food. My mom does not know how to cook anything bad. Then I did my nails and my mom opened her birthday present. We stayed all day. Then we came home and started getting ready for Black Friday. Many of you know that Black Friday is not my thing. I do not like crowds or standing in line. Karl is patient and that stuff does not bother him. Well, we go to Wal~Mart...yes we. He talked me into going because I was wanting a new cell phone. Well we get there and we had a few other things in mind we wanted. We picked up a new comforter set ($35) and some Rubbermaid things (18). Karl stood in line for a surround sound bar ($45). We already have surround sound, but it is going out, so we are trying this one. Anyway, while Karl was waiting Josh and I walked around and looked at other stuff. There were people everywhere. I did not have fun. I went for a cell phone, but they were out already, I also wanted some of the 600 thread count sheets which were also gone. Still glad we picked up a few things. Ok, so midnight comes and I see people rushing the front of the store. Josh and I were standing by the cash register, so we jumped in line, Karl met up with us and we checked out. That part did go well.
Karl went back out today and got Meisha a bigger crate...those were on sale also and if you own a dog you know big crates can be kind of pricey. He picked one up for $40 or $45. Hopefully Meisha enjoys some more space.
I took down the Thanksgiving decorations and I need to dust, then I plan to decorate for Christmas!! Yay!! I love this time of the year!!
Tonight we are going to meet up with some of Karl's family for a birthday party. It will be fun, we are going bowling. Have a nice day Black Friday Shoppers!!

Thanksgiving!!

I am so excited for Thanksgiving. This week we will work all day Monday and then half a day on Tuesday. Then vacation begins. I am ready. I love Thanksgiving. We are going to my parent's house this Thanksgiving. Speaking of my parents, I really need to write about what happened to my mom. She had been seeing this doctor in Oklahoma and long story short, she was super over medicated. She has been sleeping almost all of the time for the last several years. Everytime these doctor's would change her medicine, they would not take her off any of her old medicine, just keep adding new medicine. Anyway, she had started falling and she hurt herself. My parent's were at my house one night and she fell. She was also really shaky. These things could all be explained by her diagnoses, so I didn't think much about it...she has Parkinson's and COPD...I just thought her shaking was getting worse and that she was not taking her oxygen which would make her more awake. Well anyway, she fell at my house and she started asking if my dad was there. I could tell she had fainted. I told my dad to get her to the doctor and let them know she was fainting. Well, the doctor told her she was over medicated and changed her medications. She was also having nightmares and what I did not know was she was not able to use the bathroom. The doctor called her back and told her to get back to her office. Her kidneys were starting to shut down. When she went back, her kidneys were doing better because she had stopped taking all of the medications. My mom is also awake/alert now. She has been shopping and getting out. She feels so much better. I am so thankful the doctor caught this in time. She could have died. The doctor has been monitoring her kidneys and they are doing fine. Anyway, she is having Thanksgiving at her house this year and she wants to cook. I will get to go help her, but I am so happy she is feeling better.
Well, let's see. The last time I posted I had 2 new students. I got like 6 more since then. We have a lot of 3 year olds, so getting them used to structure takes time. We will get there. In the meantime, the holidays are here, so hopefully we will not get anymore kids until January. This will give us some time to work with the kids we have now and teach them our expectations.
Karl also went back to work. He is working at Bass Pro, building a museum inside of Bass Pro I believe-he does commercial construction. He has been working every day, no days off. The money will be good, but working everyday is hard.
I only have 4 more classes and I will be done with college. The last time I posted it was Halloween. I had to go to night class, but afterwards I rushed home and started handing out candy. We always get a lot of my students that come by. They looked so cute!! The picture is of my nephew Brandon and his wife Alicia and their daughter Chloe. They looked so cute!! I would have been so mad if I would have missed all of the trick-or-treaters because of night class, but as it turns out I didn't miss anything, I got home just in time.
Ok, well this is what happens when I do not post for a long time. I am sorry this is so long. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Halloween!!

I thought I had posted after I finished student teaching, but I didn't. I think I make blog posts in my head sometimes. My last week was good, but like I said, it was really hard to leave. I loved it over there. I cried and I still think about those kids and wonder how they are doing.
I have been back to work for about 2 weeks I think. They have sent me 3 new kids and are working on 3 more. I welcome more kids. The kids do better overall when there are more of them to play with. We have 10 between two classes right now. That is not very many.
Karl is laid off again. It does sound like there will be some more work soon though. That is good.
There is nothing going on with our house. We had a bid and the amount offered was good, but they wanted us to sign something stating that we would fix anything an inspector might find wrong with the house. Well, depending on the inspector, they may find nothing, they may find thousands of dollars of stuff. There is no way to know, so we didn't sign. We have an old house too, so that was too scary to sign.
Ok, here is a Josh story. I painted my nails dark purple for Halloween, they look black. Well, Josh asks me when I painted my fingernails and why they were black. I told him for Halloween. He informs me that is bad and that it is goth. I even got him a black jacket and he says it is goth, he doesn't like to wear it. He cracks me up. Maybe I will dye my hair black too and see what he says...LOL!!
My night class will be over in December and I will be done with college. I can almost taste it!! I am so excited. I will be at night class for Halloween. How exciting right? Well, I am going to go. Have a Happy and safe Halloween. I am excited to decorate for Thanksgiving...even though I think Wal~Mart wants me to decorate for Christmas. ;)

shock for the day...

I really need to get out more. So, Karl usually puts gas in my car, but he has been working crazy long hours, so I needed to get dogfood and I was out of gas. I went to get gas and I was shocked at the price. I looked up and thought I was paying for mine and someone elses's...LOL!! I know gas prices are down some, I paid $3.09/gallon. I cannot imagine what I would have thought if I would have got gas when it was higher. I have a small car, not an SUV, so I do not know what I was thinking, but anyway... Ok, so after that shock, I proceed to Branson where I am going to Pet Smart for dogfood. Well, I did not realize our dogfood brand was so expensive. Karl usually does this also. I am usually there, just not paying attention. I really hate knowing how much money we spend. Ok, so the last time I got dogfood we had one dog and we got a much smaller bag. We now have 3 dogs and need a bigger bag, plus I get a pet store brand and not a walmart brand. I also decided that they needed new toys and some dog treats. Ok, well that isn't really even my "I need to get out more" moment for the pet store. I go to pay and the machine will not take my debit card, I swiped it like 4 times, then accidentally it taps the side and goes through. I was like OMG, what happened??? The girl tells me I have one of the cards you only have to tap to get the machine to work. I told her I didn't get out much. She was nice and told me not many people know about it because not many places have those machines around here. It was cool. Anyway, I dropped over $100 in about an hour, so I thought I better get myself home.
Well, this coming week is my last week of student teaching, then I will go back to work October 17th. It is bittersweet. I need to get back to work, but I will miss the kids so much. It will be a rough week for me.
The house hunting is not going so good. It is such a long story, let's just say the people that were interested in our house did make a bid, but it did not work out.
Karl is working a different job, but I am not sure for how long, so I will not go into it. He is working long hours though. It is hard on him. Good paycheck though.
I am just waiting for my parents to bring back Josh. He spent the night with them. Have a great weekend!!

Happy Labor Day!!

I know this is an old background from CLBOTB, but I was missing the country graphics and this reminded me of them a little. I love the scarecrow. I like doing my blog here at blogger, but I miss country graphics.
Well, the bank did not go for our offer on the house. We agreed that their counter-offer was much too high, so we decided not to agree to their offer. We are looking elsewhere for houses now. These things all work out. They did show our house Friday afternoon though and the people stayed at least an hour looking around. That made me a little nervous. If they do make a good bid and we accept, we will not really have anywhere to go. There aren't any homes here where we live that we like. We looked at some wonderful houses today, but they are in another town. Josh would have to change schools. I am just praying everything works out the way it is supposed to.
Student teaching is going good. The teacher had to leave for a family emergency one day this week, so I was alone with the class much of the day. I think everything went well, except for classroom management. It is hard to be in control when it is not your class. I have some things I am going to try. I will be taking over reading and language this week. I will probably do that for two weeks because I am having an evaluation next week. I only have social studies and math to take over after that, I will take social studies...maybe even next week and then math.
We are not doing anything special for Labor Day. Just relaxing. It is nice to have a little break. I am going to add my little birthday siggie from Susie this week since my birthday is Friday the 9th. Have a nice week!!! Happy Labor Day!!

Student Teaching

This week was crazy. Monday I had meetings at my college, came home to eat, went to meet the class I would be with for student teaching, came back home, changed clothes and fed the dogs, went to pick up Josh from school then went to my night class. It was nuts, but the rest of the week was nice. I started student teaching and I love the kids. I am not nervous anymore either. I just had to get started. I had lunch duty this week, so I got to mingle with all of the 2nd graders. It was fun. I also have started doing some little things in the classroom to get a few clerical jobs mastered because in a few weeks I will have to run the whole class by myself. I think it will be fine. I am planning to take reading or language as my first lessons to take over.
We did hear about the house...the owners have accepted our offer, so it has gone to the bank and now since it is a short sale, the bank has to decide if they want to accept our offer, so it will take more time, but no big deal. We had someone look at our house today as well.
I also got the results of my praxis back this week and I passed. Now for those of you who are not familiar with what the praxis is, it is my license to teach. It is a big test that you have to pass to become certified. I am so excited because I just knew I had messed it up. I changed several of my answers and I know I changed them to the wrong answer and had the correct answer to begin with. Well, it worked out and I passed.
Well, Karl has the movie "Tangled" on and it is pretty funny, so I am going to go and watch it. Have a nice week!

First week of school

Josh had a good week at school. He seemed a little frustrated because they really weren't doing much of anything but going over rules, and that is boring.
This was my only week at the preschool. I had so much fun. I have some new kids and one of them is hilarious. It will be a super fun year with this student added to the mix of the already fun class I have. I will start student teaching next week, so I will not be back at the preschool until October 17th. I will miss my kids and co-workers.
Monday I go to a student teacher meeting and then Tuesday I start student teaching. This goes on for 8 weeks and then I am done and I can go back to the preschool. I am sure I will love it. Oh, I think some of you had asked what grade I will be teaching and where. It is public schools and it is 2nd grade.
This weekend I need to clean house and get everything ready for next week. I will try to make a post next week about how student teaching is going. I am nervous. Hopefully by later in the week I will be over that. BTW...still no word on the house, but I will keep you posted. Have a nice weekend.

back to school

Josh had a really good time at Ft. Walton, or Ookaloosa Beach, in Florida. They also ended up going to Fort Walton and an Indian museum as well as an air force museum. They ate out at some seafood place, but I do not remember the name of the place. He is home though and I am glad. I missed him.
We went to look at houses on Wednesday and afterwards Karl had to go to the dentist. On his way home his van broke down. We ended up having to go buy a new one. It looks very similar to the old one. it is an '02 Toyota Sienna. He is having to drive a long distance to work right now and needs something dependable. We spent the entire day looking for something on Thursday and then had to go pick it up on Friday. That is how I spent my last days off. I was not happy, but it had to be done.
We also decided to make a bid on a house we looked at. It is a house getting ready to be foreclosed on and is in short sale, so we bid much lower than what they are asking, so we shall see. We may not have a chance, and that is ok, but we had to try, it is a nice home and in the woods. It is so quiet.
I go back to work tomorrow for a week. Josh is spending the night with my parents. Then he goes back to school on Tuesday. I am not sure how much I will be blogging now, you kind of know how I do when I am working, sometimes it is once a month. I get so busy. I start student teaching the 23rd, so all of that is coming up. This summer went so fast. I hope to be back in here to post again soon. Have a nice week!!

getting Josh enrolled for school...

Here is a picture of the boys playing in the sand. Josh is the one with the swim shirt. He does not really tan at all. Karl doesn't either. Anyway, they went to the beach yesterday and had a great time and I heard Grandpa got into their blow up boat and rode the waves. How fun. They posted some pictures of Josh on the beach last night and the boys in the pool. I thought this picture was so funny though, so I decided to post it instead. It is of Josh and his cousin and it looks like they are having a glass of wine. It is juice of course. My sister-in-law says the boys insist on drinking from these glasses everytime. They are so silly. Josh is in the yellow shirt. You can also click the photo to make it bigger so you can see it.
Well I met my teacher yesterday where I will be student teaching and she showed me around the building. She was really nice. I will at least now know where the classroom is and where to park. I also know kind of what hours I will need to be there. I hated to ask that, but I have a son I need to know about when I will be home. Karl has been working in Joplin and has been working 10 hour days. He was not getting home until 7PM. He said they are working 8 hour days now, so we shall see.
I got Josh's paperwork filled out for school, so I plan to take it to the school today and get him enrolled. I think that is all I have plannned today, so no big deal. Tomorrow we look at houses. I hope we find one. I am afraid interest rates are going to go up and I want a good one. Have a great day!!

meet the teacher

Josh arrived in Florida yesterday and he called me and he is having a really good time. They hadn't gone to the beach yet, so I am sure he will have lots to say next time I talk to him. They took some pictures on the way down to Florida and they took one of all 3 boys in the pool. Josh is the one with his goggles on his forehead. I haven't seen many other pictures than that so far. They have posted to facebook on occassion. They are having fun, so I just check in every now and then. They stayed at Hattiesburg, MS on the way down and that is where the picture was taken.
Today I am going to meet the teacher I will be student teaching under. I am really excited. I start that on the 23rd of August, but Josh starts school next week and I am going to work for a week.
I also have to get him enrolled this week in school. I think I will work on that tomorrow. I have to fill out all of the forms etc. Then Wednesday Karl is taking off work and we are looking at some houses. I will let you know how that goes.
Well, have a nice week. They are saying it may cool off into the 80's this week. It was back in the 100's over the weekend, so it is a welcome change. They say here in Missouri, if you don't like the weather, just wait until tomorrow...or it may be wait 5 minutes. Do they say that everywhere?

Josh is on his way...

Josh and I went shopping yesterday for some school supplies. It is the no tax weekend for school supplies/clothes/shoes, etc. Well, we got a lot of them but not all. Maybe I can do that today or tomorrow. I also got some shorts. It was busy.
I also had to get Josh packed for his trip. He is on his way to Florida for a vacation with his grandparents (Karl's parents), his cousins, and 2 of his Aunts. He will have fun. They have a ocean front condo and they are on the ground level, so the kids can just run back and forth to the condo without having to go up flights of stairs or elevators. I could not afford to go this year, but they offered to take Josh and I would never take that from him. I am so happy he is getting to go. They split the cost and it was only like $300/each for the week. I am hoping for next year.
I am just going to clean up the house a bit today and maybe get some of that school shopping done.
Karl and I are going to look at some houses Wednesday, I will let you know how it goes.

Creative Adventures #3

Creative Adventures
Creative Adventures #3
The Lonely Seaside
1. You are walking along the surf of a lonely seaside and stop and look out into the sea.

2. As you walk further along you notice an old shack.

3. Your curiousity gets the best of you and you decide to walk toward the shack.

4. From the distance you can see something inside the shack.

Today was Josh's birthday. He is 13 years old. I can hardly believe it. We went shoe shopping with my parents and they got him a pair of tennis shoes and I got him a pair also. My mom got him some socks also. Then we went to eat at Cheddars. It was wonderful. We then came home to visit for a while and then I washed the curtains at the preschool after my parents went home. We start school on August 15th. This summer has flown by. Oh!! The best thing. I heard thunder last night and I am pretty sure we got rain too. The heat was not bad at all today, in fact it was still in the 80's when we got back from shopping and eating with my parents. It got up in the 90's later, but not bad at all. It was a great day.

sooooooooo hot

Josh and I went to the university where I take classes today. I needed to try to sell some books back and get my books for fall. They usually tell me they are using different books and are not buying back the books I have. Well today, they bought back all of my books but one. I was excited. I was able to get one of my books for fall the other one is not in the bookstore yet. I decided to have them ship it to me so I do not have to drive back up there. Then we went to get my parking pass. I am taking a night class, so I will need one. Anyway, that is all taken care of and I am ready for classes I think. We also drove by the school where I will student teach so I will know where to go. I have a couple of weeks, but I have other things to do.
I planned to do some work at the preschool tonight, but my house was hot and I could not cool off, then I started watching tv. It was 105 degrees today and I just didn't want to get out in it. I will probably go down tomorrow, and it is supposed to be even hotter, but it is nice and cool at the preschool. I am needing to get the room ready. I enjoy doing that, so I do not mind it.
Over the weekend Karl and his dad put in a new front door and we painted Josh's room. There is just a little work left in the laundry room. We are getting there.
Well, I hope you have a wonderful week and if it is as hot where you are as it is here, please stay cool!!

Creative Adventures #2

Creative Adventures

1. While on vacation in Europe I decided to visit an old landmark Inn at the top of the cliffs. The Inn was the place to stay for the rich and famous during the turn of the 20th century. As I rode along the winding road up to the top I noticed it was beginning to rain.

2. Gathering my senses I continued to the Inn grounds and drove the long unkept driveway to the now abandoned building. Stepping out of my car I walked to the door and found it was unlocked.

3. Entering the enormous lobby I walked to the desk and opened an old falling apart guest register and as I was reading the list of guests who were part of the past of this once famous Inn I thought I heard a door close.

4. Leaving this lonely ghostly place with a smile on my face I thought to myself why do I keep going in abandoned buildings.

Today I am just doing laundry and my parents are coming to get Josh later so he can spend the night. I got the wallpaper off pretty easy the other day and then Karl got the painting done when he got home. Tomorrow I am taking Molly to the vet for some shots. Have a nice day!!

Manic Monday

I took Josh to the orthodontist today, then as soon as we got home there was a message on the phone from a realtor wanting to show our house. I cleaned the house and did some laundry really fast and while they were showing the house we went to the library. Josh returned his books and checked out a new one, in the meantime I have all 3 dogs in the car. Then after that we went to Karl's mom's house to wait until the people were gone from looking at the house. Well here is the thing with our house. The people last week that looked at it really liked it, but we have some repairs to make and it seems like they were in a hurry to get in a house and made a bid on another house. Since then we have been working on the repairs. Well, Karl and his dad have been. Tonight when we got home Karl started pulling wallpaper off the wall and painting the laundry room. I helped with the wallpaper. We are getting there.
Tomorrow I plan to do some training for work on the computer. It should not take long. I have to watch a film and take a test over it. Then I need to get back in there and try to get more wallpaper off the wall so Karl can paint it when he gets home. He likes to paint.
Have a great week!! Here is my new sigtag from Judy!! I love it!! Thanks Judy!!