30 Days of Thankful: J-O-B



I know I whine about grading papers, both online and in real life (just ask Brendon), and just like any teacher, I have done my fair share of grumbling about particular situations or students (definitely not online).

 



 But I really am thankful for my outside-the-house teaching job.

I love being on a college campus. There really is nothing else like it. I love the feeling of school spirit (a major reason why I chose A&M) and right now it's soaring high at my school. But that's not really what I mean when I say there is nothing like college. It's something more intangible than even that; it's that feeling you get when walking across a beautiful campus on a crisp, fall day. A feeling of promise, maybe? Do you know what I am talking about?

I really enjoy teaching writing. I enjoy the exchange in the classroom with students who are figuring out life and ideas for themselves, who are on the brink of their futures, like when we had the greatest class discussions about Martin Luther King, Jr.'s classic "Letter from Birmingham Jail" last week.

I also enjoy this time of the semester, where, while we still have some hurdles to cross before the finish line, things start to ease up a bit--definitely an advantage of a writing class as compared to one with a heavy emphasis on tests and final exams. Hitting Thanksgiving week brings a big sigh of relief for me. So bring on the turkey!

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"A recent study by Bersin & Associates underscores the bottom-line implications of saying thank you in the workplace. It reveals that companies that 'excel at employee recognition' are 12 times more likely to enjoy strong business results.

"My own academic research on trust has revealed not only that gratitude makes a difference but that people don’t require big gestures, just heartfelt ones. Simple but genuine thank-yous or small, handwritten notes of appreciation can mean the world to people. So if it’s so easy, why don’t we do it more often?

"When it comes to business, I think we fall into the trap of not seeing people when we work with them. We take them for granted and just assume they don’t need a show of gratitude. This oversight can have huge consequences, particularly if you’re the boss.

"On a personal level, what are the qualities that attract you to another person? When I ask this question during speaking sessions, I often hear words like charisma, kindness, or physical appearance. The audience is usually surprised when I tell them that the most magnetic trait is not charisma or even a smile but gratitude....Few things stick in our minds like those moments when we learn that people appreciate our efforts or we acknowledge how others have helped us.

"I promise that when you make the effort to make gratitude a central part of how you think and act, you won’t be disappointed with the results."

From "Your Most Powerful Forgotten Weapon: Gratitude" by David Horsager for Forbes

30 Days of Thankful: Social Media

I only have a quick minute today, so I thought I'd give a shout out to social media. No, it's no substitute for real conversation, and yes, it can create a black hole of wasted time in your day. But, I still appreciate the way it keeps me connected. Even when I wasn't blogging, I was still instagramming, or pinning, or liking posts. Because...





I also adore using feedly now that Google reader has gone the way of the dodo. The app is the best.

Of course, some social media sites I still don't get. I don't use or follow anyone on vine, and I think places like ask.fm and snapchat are bad, bad ideas. Tumblr just seems like a bunch of bad blogs--why you need a separate platform for "micro-blogging"?

What else is out there that I'm missing? LinkedIn? No need. But should I start using twitter?

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To go along with our theme today, how about an internet quiz: Is There Enough Gratitude in Your Life? You can share your results with all your facebook friends or twitter followers. ;)

30 Days of Thankful: Bargains

I really appreciate a good bargain. Though I'm no extreme couponer, I always have my eye on the clearance racks and aisles. And though we don't camp out for Black Friday, we do do most of our Christmas shopping that day and following weekend. I'm always on the lookout for an online steal and subscribe to feeds from websites like Moneysaving Mom and Pinching Your Pennies so I don't miss out on a killer sale.

I also have been loving a few daily deal websites lately. The Plaid Barn and Pick Your Plum always have fun items on the cheap.

The Plaid Barn had these cute camera straps for $9.99 today. Great gift idea!



And I have become obsessed with checking Jane.com every day lately...





So many inexpensive fun finds! (Shelly, did you see those personalized wood state ornaments on there this week? Would be adorable for your family ornament this year!)

What are your favorite places to find a good deal? Only 33 shopping days left! (If you don't count Sundays and the week of Christmas--better be done by then!)

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Now that I've covered the commercialized part of the holidays, check out the ideas below from Ann Voskamp on "7 Ways to Have More Grateful Kids this Christmas." I absolutely love the first idea and will definitely be starting that this year.

1. A “Gifts We Already Have List”

Hang a long paper on a wall or on the fridge or back of door. Fill that list up before Christmas — with all the countless ways God blesses you all as a family. Count 1000 (or a bit more or less) of the gifts you already have this Christmas!

2. Thanks Mob the neighborhood

Set out a basket of Thank you postcards and leave a pen and stamps in the basket. Add a stash of chocolate bars. See if you can empty the thank-you card basket, accompanied by chocolate bars, by Christmas — a thank-you card and chocolate bar for the postman, the garbage collector, folks at the hair salon, the crossing guard, the church janitor.

3. Love-in for a Shut-In

Adopt a shut-in this Advent. One person who is homebound or elderly or in a nursing home — and have the kids think of one thing they can do for that shut-in face to face over Advent. Sing Christmas carols with them one evening? Bring them a very small tree in a pot and every week of Advent pop in with one more meaningful ornament for the tree? Bring them a meal? Find a way for the kids to be face-to-face with blessing someone.

4. Thrift Gifts

Before every trip to the mall — check out one thrift store. Before any online order — check out kijji or ebay. Help kids to thrill in the hunt for thrifted gems — and see it as a way to make gifts keep on giving! Think Thrift Gift!

5. Lower expectations to heighten Joy

“Expectations kill relationships — and joy.” (One Thousand Gifts) Consider ways of sharing with the kids that Christmas is going to be smaller and holier this year. Set low spending limits for all gift-giving and make the creativity with little part of the Christmas fun. Live by the small rule: Only buy for Christmas Day what can be paid for by New Year’s Day. Lower the expectations to heighten the joy!

6. Giving Lists not Getting Lists

Spend quiet time with each of the kids thinking and planning on what they can give and how they can be the gift, give a blessing — so that they can live out the truth of: It is more blessed to give than to receive. What can they make? Bake? Create? How could they surprise? Bless? Who is on their Giving list? Let’s focus on our Giving Lists —  and not so much on any getting lists.

7. King Gifts

Hear Jesus whispering it: “When You give to the least of these — you give to Me.” Consider how to make this Christmas radical — and get out the King’s Catalogues and get excited about giving bringing gifts to our King! Gather the family around with all the catalogues and make it a family birthday party for Jesus — will you bring the King a goat, clean water, a chicken, a Bible for a new Believer, a warm coat?

30 Days of Thankful: Sisters

When Shelly was here on Friday she said that she'd better see a post soon about how I am thankful for my sister. Not sisters, plural--she wanted her very own post in honor of her birthday this weekend. Ha!

Well, sorry Shelly, but since my sisters, plural, are inextricably linked in my mind, and since there's no telling if I'll still be blogging in May to give Jenny the same courtesy, and since I've been holding on to this particular set of pictures to blog since the spring, you guys are getting the 2-for-1 special today.

I am so, so thankful for my sisters. Without them, who would have I these kinds of conversations with?

P.S. Nice 'N' Easy was not so nice to me. Do not advise!
P.P.S. Happy Birthday, Shelly!

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“Ordinary happiness depends on happenstance.

"Joy is that extraordinary happiness that is independent of what happens to us.

"Good luck can make us happy, but it cannot give us lasting joy. The root of joy is gratefulness. We tend to misunderstand the link between joy and gratefulness. We notice that joyful people are grateful and suppose that they are grateful for their joy. But the reverse is true: their joy springs from gratefulness. If one has all the good luck in the world, but takes it for granted, it will not give one joy. Yet even bad luck will give joy to those who manage to be grateful for it.

"We hold the key to lasting happiness in our own hands. For it is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful."

From Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer by David Steindl-Rast via Brene Brown

30 Days of Thankful: Sunrise

Today I am thankful for beautiful sunrises. This semester I have been going in to work earlier so that I can be done earlier, and I've never been a morning person. It's hard. But. I swear that every single time I've felt a little grumbly about getting up so early, I have been greeted on my drive by an exceptionally beautiful sunrise that lifts my heart and surprises me each time. So thankful for this tender mercy!



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"Nature's beauty is a gift that cultivates appreciation and gratitude.

"You think this is just another day in your life? It's not just another day. It's the one day that is given to you today. It's given to you. It's a gift. Is the only gift that you have right now, and the only appropriate response is gratefulness.

"Look at the sky. We so rarely look at the sky. We so rarely note how different it is from moment to moment, with clouds coming and going....That formation of clouds in the sky will never be the same as it is right now. Open your eyes. Look at that. "

From "Nature. Beauty. Gratitude." by Louie Schwartzberg (You really should watch the incredible video that accompanies this TED talk if you've never seen it!)

The frozen tundra of Blogland

I haven't been feeling it this week, people. All of my efforts have been going into staying warm. And I know it hasn't been even been super cold here--I don't know how y'all in single and negative digits are doing it! Brrrrrrr.

My semester also started this week, so it's been time to get back on the bus. The being responsible, going to bed at a reasonable hour, getting stuff done bus. Setting an alarm on Sunday night hurt.

Today I received my evaluations from last semester...that's always fun, right? Not so much this time, major fail in the entertainment factor. There were lots of kind comments (appreciated, but boring!) and the most frequent negative response was that they wished I returned papers more quickly. You and me both, kid. Grading...it is my albatross. I am so. painfully. slow. at it. And I guarantee that if I just barrelled through for the sake of speed I would get evaluations that asked for more or better feedback on their essays. Maybe I'll test that theory this semester?

Did I ever tell you how last fall I randomly had my evaluations from Spring 2009 show up in my mailbox? That was the semester right before Alex was born and I took the following year off, so apparently they'd been hanging around in someone's filing cabinet in the three year interim. I laughed pretty hard when all the negative responses were prefaced with something like, "I know she's pregnant, but..." I must have been showing some serious pregnancy brain that semester.

Or not, since the end of the sentence was usually "...I wish our papers had been returned faster."

Seriously, what am I going to do about that grading? Why, oh why, didn't I take up a subject that uses scantrons?

Suggestions? Tips? Hot cocoa?? I'm coooooooold......

Did I Say That?

Did I say I would be back to regular posting today?? Ha!

Brendon called before he left work late this afternoon to see if there was anything he could pick up on the way home, and I asked for a big ol' box of motivation. 'Cause I got none of it. The mayhem of Christmas morning is still largely covering my living room floor, and darn it, there are just too many interesting things to watch on Netflix*, and sleep...oh, sleep is so nice.

So forgive me for relishing in another day of zero expectations. All too soon--as in tomorrow morning--they will be back upon me, and it will be go, go, go right on into 2013.

By way of motivation, though, I'll share two things I've read recently that I hope to keep in mind as I do go, go, go into 2013. Click through for the full articles.

The Do Plan, or Why We Know But Don't Do from Leo Babauta of zenhabits:

"If we’re afraid of failing as a writer, teacher, language learner, runner, weight lifter, guitar player, manager, leader, mom…we create all kinds of unconscious strategies to avoid that failure."

"Fear is not the determining factor in our lives. It doesn’t tell us how our lives will go. It is only a little child’s voice in the back of our minds, trying to get its way, trying to avoid discomfort. But we can learn that discomfort isn’t horrible: it is the feeling of exploring new territory, climbing a new peak, pushing to new levels. We can beat fear. Let’s start right now."

2013--A Year of Failing (Maybe Spectacularly) from Kellie at Segullah:

"I don’t want perfectionist twitches to keep me from dancing 2013’s socks off. It doesn’t matter if I have no idea of what step comes next, I want to be in there, making it up as I go along, asking for help, laughing uproariously at myself, indulging in the odd temper tantrum, and having a ball."

"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something. So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life. Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it. Make your mistakes, next year and forever." (Neil Gaiman)

*This article on the Christmas Eve Netflix outage had me cracking up!

Before Pinterest

I was cleaning out a box a few weeks ago and found this gem:



It's a tear file/inspiration book I started in college. I would pore over old issues of Better Homes and Gardens and Southern Living, dreaming up my future life and projects, pulling out my favorites for filing in this journal. A paper trousseau?

Some clippings were just fun to look at...



 

but I also had full-on tutorials:

 



Even sections devoted to different holidays, just like my current Pinterest boards...




a section of unglued clippings for wedding inspiration...



and pages and pages of tear sheets hanging out the back, waiting to be cut down and pasted in:



It cracks me up to look through it and see how drastically my tastes have changed...



At one time I loved all things botanical, but now this picture just gives me the hives.

and how much they have stayed the same:



Pretty sure I have something just like this pinned to my boards.

If only I had been the one smart enough to translate this idea to modern-day media instead of the three men* behind Pinterest.


*Don't you find that interesting?

Sunday Thoughts

One blogger I read regularly posts "Sunday Thoughts" entries to share some of the messages from church or other events that really spoke to her or touched her heart. I've always wanted to do something similar, and having just returned from TOFW as I mentioned in the last post, I thought it might be the perfect time to start and to share.

• My Uncle Dean was one of the TOFW presenters, and he talked about how we can create Zion or unity amongst God's people. He said, "Unity happens when we think well of one another." I'm going to be chewing on this one for a long time. It might just be me, but it feels like a tall order to go beyond doing good and being kind, to thinking good and mentally being kind to everyone. But he's so right; it will change us.
• He also mentioned that loving one another takes being willing to sit and talk to another person long enough to get beyond the surface level. This really struck me. I think I am guilty of keeping things at a small talk level with most people. Recently our ward Relief Society published a book with little life stories contributed from many of the sisters in our congregation. I l-o-v-e the book, mostly because I learned things about women I only thought I knew, some of whom I've known for over twenty years! I really want to be someone who knows, and loves, people beyond the surface level.
• "Before we can successfully undertake a personal search for Jesus, we must first prepare time for Him in our lives....In these busy days there are many who have time for golf, time for shopping, time for work, time for play--but no time for Christ." (President Monson, "The Search for Jesus")
• Julie de Azevedo Hanks gave a fantastic presentation on emotions. She's a clinical therapist, and she talked about how to get better at feeling your feelings, expressing them in a healthy way, and using them for good. She said that many Christian women feel like and have been taught that expressing emotion is not Christlike. She used her presentation to turn that idea on its head, using scripture to show how the Lord has expressed a broad range of emotions, and even suggested that his willingness to feel emotion is what allowed the Savior to be able to complete the atonement--He couldn't have borne our sins without being willing to feel. It was such an interesting perspective and especially made me think about how I can teach my kids to be able to identify their emotions and express them in an appropriate way.
• One final note, Emily Watts used a swimming analogy to talk about how all of the energy we use "treading water" would have been enough to propel us to the other side of the pool if we had just started swimming instead. In real life terms, how much time and energy do I waste thinking, planning, analyzing, doubting, re-thinking, making lists, etc. etc. that I could use instead to just get whatever it is that needs to be done, done? Total lightbulb, "Duh!" moment for me! :)

Did I Ever Tell You...

about the time when, for Family Home Evening, we were going around the room telling things we loved about each person? One of the things Shayne said he loves about me is that no matter when we leave, we always get there on time.

Oops.

Sic 'em!

Cutest family of Bears you ever saw, right?

I know...some of my Aggie friends and family are just about to burst a maroon blood vessel over that picture and statement, I'm sure.

I am an Aggie. And a Bear. Time, tears, and work invested in my education at both. And both schools gave me much in return. The only loyalty I have to any rivalry is to both of these schools...against t.u. :)

And if you ask me about the scuffle over the conference re-alignment, I'll just say that I think both schools were completely within their rights to take the actions they did. And that I find college football to be ruled, by all parties, by so much greed these days that the whole business can get pretty disgusting.

Anyway, we went to a game earlier this month and watched BU play Iowa State. The kids had a blast. Cheering, popcorn, cotton candy, woohoo!

 

Me? Not having been to a live college game in quite awhile, I was pretty disappointed at how much more commercialized the whole thing has become. (See note about greed above.) It was crazy! I think the jumbotron has officially killed college football as I once knew it. And this is where I start sounding like an old fuddy duddy... "Back in my day, we didn't have any of these fancy, new-fangled bleachers. We had to stand the whole time--and we liked it!" 

Still, we didn't let it stop us from having a really fun night.

  

Ten Years. Always an Adventure.

Ten years ago today, I had run off to Vegas (with sixty close friends and family members, of course) to marry Brendon Moore. During the ceremony, our officiant mistook my tear-choked "Yes" for a conflicted "I guess." :)

Ten years later, I don't guess--I know--that marrying him was the best decision I ever made. I am the luckiest.

Rather than re-posting pictures of our wedding, I thought I would mark the occasion by posting pictures of what we did to celebrate this milestone anniversary. Two weekends ago, thanks to some super cheap airfare and some super wonderful family members who took in the kids, we headed off to Chicago for a couple of days. Why Chicago? See above: super cheap airfare, plus the fact that we had never been before and thought it would be a fun adventure.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon and checked into our hotel, the Park Hyatt. Then we promptly (and very maturely) freaked out over our good luck in scoring this amazing hotel for free through our credit card.

The view from our room of the historic Water Tower and Lake Michigan

Umm, seriously, you always try to tell yourself that the way "the other half" lives can't really be all that different from your own way of life...but I'm here to tell you that, I'm sorry, it is very different. And it. is. fabulous.

I mean, normal people just don't have access to things like a bath butler, bikes for riding at your leisure, automatic black-out curtains, a BMW car service that will take you anywhere within a two-mile radius so you don't have to mess up your designer shoes, or someone who will fetch you neosporin and bandaids for your heels when you do go out in your designer shoes, but can't be bothered with stopping at the Walgreens across the street for the blisters they create. Yup.

(I'm not saying we took advantage of all of those things...some of them we did, and some we just watched others and their miniature dogs do. Equally fun.)

Anyway, for the next two days, I'd say we experienced a pretty quintessential Chicago touristy weekend. We...

went on a Chicago Architecture Foundation boat tour.

ate deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati's.

ate divine breakfasts at The Feast and The Bongo Room.

rode the "L" up to Wrigley Field and attended a Cubs' game,

where they came thisclose to beating the Astros. (See? Quintessential!)

Note the score. I snapped this picture just before they reviewed and called back the homerun that would have won the game for the Cubs.

made ourselves sick on Chicago hot dogs at the ballpark and chocolate cake shakes at Portillos after the game.

walked through the park and took pictures at Buckingham Fountain and the Bean.

visited the Art Institute.

and shopped the Magnificent Mile.

My first-ever visit to the Mecca of the blogosphere: Anthropologie ;)

We honestly loved every single minute. It was short, but the reality of our ten years together is that we have created a busy life--that we love--and that we needed to get back to. It was enough.

I love us.

P.S. Many thanks to Mandy, Jenny, and others who gave us such great recs for our visit!

Reality Check

I have a little gallery wall in my living room, and sometimes I change out the pictures or posters according to the holiday. Before Mother's Day, and in anticipation of having my mom over for dinner, I put up pictures of the kids and their grandmothers and me and the kids. I also filled another frame with this cute little print:

 

from a proffittable life

When Shayne read it, he said something like, "What's that for?" I joked, "For me! Don't you think I'm the best mom in the whole entire history of the world?"

Pause.

"Not really."

Ouch.

What happenend to that whole mother/son, my-mom-can-do-no-wrong bond we were supposed to have going on? His eyes weren't supposed to be open to my failings this early on!

And my incredulity at his response immediately set in the mother-guilt; he got embarrassed and started saying things like, "Sorry! You are! You are! Sorry!" And my favorite..."I didn't know!" As in, "I didn't know I was supposed to lie!" Ha! The fact that I made him feel like that is just another mark in the NOT the greatest mother of the world column for me.

Lesson: Apparently, I could do better. (Like I didn't know that one already!)

 

Nightmare

Have I mentioned before that I frequently deal with having crazy nightmares? It goes way back to when I was a kid and had recurring nightmares about being at a zoo and all of the cages disappearing, or about Sweetums the muppet chasing me down the street. These days it's still mostly influenced by the tv and movies I watch, which is why I had to stop watching Heroes...Syler was stalking me in my sleep every night.

  

Shudder.

For the past two nights I've been having new nightmares that, while not scary, are just completely nerve-wracking. Tomorrow night I am helping with a huge four-ward youth activity, a tailgate/iron chef cook-off of sorts, so I have lots of assignments to keep straight, and I keep dreaming that I'm going to screw things up. I think it all started from a meeting this weekend where our bishop emphasized that this activity really needed to be "something special." Cue my subconscious freakout. Early this morning the dream that jolted me awake was that I suddenly realized it was 6:15 Wednesday night, was supposed to have been at the church at 6:00, and hadn't even done the shopping for the ingredient list yet. Total nightmare. My nerves were so rattled afterwards I couldn't get back to sleep. (My nerves! My nerves! Who am I, Mrs. Bennett?!)

Anyway, silly, right? But that hasn't stopped me from getting busy today to make sure that all my ducks are in a row. And tomorrow, please forgive me if I don't take any phone calls or texts between 3:00 and six...I might get distracted and forget the shopping I'm supposed to be doing!

(Please tell me you can relate?)

"Harsh Personality"

It's a new semester. And the first thing waiting for me in my box this week? A fresh batch of faculty evaluations from the last semester. The sight of the envelope always makes my palms sweat a little bit, but then I take a deep breath and open them, and it never fails that I breathe a big sigh of relief and get a good laugh. They are so predictable at this point that I don't know why I ever think to worry about them.

There are the expected and laughable responses to the question, "Concerning the course, what can be done to improve its quality?"

"Not make it a required course"
"Less writing"
"Fewer essays"

Then the responses to the other questions, about me personally as a teacher, crack me up because for every student who writes "Very friendly, open, and helpful," there's another who writes, "Stop being so intimidating." Then one student says, "Very passionate and interesting" and another says, "Monotone and boring." (Ouch!) Sometimes I wonder if we were all really in the same class together when I read "She's very calm and chill" on one page, versus "Really needs to relax and ease up on being so strict" on the next.

So much of it obviously boils down to personality, both theirs and mine, and of course they are not always going to click. And even though the evaluations are supposed to be anonymous, I can usually pin point who likely said what, and what exactly prompted them to say it. That's why it didn't hurt my feelings a bit, and I even got a giggle out of the one that said I have a "harsh personality."

Especially when I flipped to the next evaluation in the pile, which complimented me on my "patience with frustrating students."

Better Blogging Ahead

For the two of you who still check the blog anyway.

Today, I had a little mini-dream come true. I've always wanted two Christmas trees...one family tree and one "fancy" tree. We've just never had the space; I'm not sure we do even now, but I made it happen anyway, thanks to a Black Friday cheap-o tree we picked up last week and some ornaments courtesy of Target's post-Christmas sale last year. We put it in our bedroom, and I had a ball decorating it this morning. All by myself. No darling clumps of ornaments at three-year old level, no fighting over who got to put on what ornament. Ha! I wasn't a complete spoil sport, though. They did put the tree up for me in the first place, for which I was very grateful. After spending six hours winding lights on our huge family tree last week, I don't think I had another tree in me!

It's little, but it's lovely! Merry Christmas to me! I may even make the kids' dreams come true next year and let them have colored lights on the family tree, now that I have my own. (I'll still put my foot down at them blinking, though!)

September

So, September.

We partied with Mario, Yoshi, and the rest of the gang.

 

Poor Aubs burned her hand terribly when she grabbed my curling iron one Sunday.

 

Not a great day in the Moore household. On the bright side, having her hand bandaged for two weeks may have broken her thumb-sucking habit.

I turned thirty-something and celebrated by watching my children sword fight and beat each other with balloons. We know how to party.

 

I also came home that day to this cute banner made by Gracie:

  

"The Kids Love Mommy. Happy Birthday 35 from The Kids."

And we enjoyed this ree-diculous cake made by Brendo.

 

It was almost too much, and coming from a peanut butter and chocolate lover like me, that's saying a lot! You can find the recipe here: Bakerella. Thanks, Lauri!

We also had Jenny staying with us for about half of September while she was in limbo between College Station and Seattle, which was fun for us.

While she was here we had several nights of this scene, them piled on the bed together, looking up an endless number of jokes to try out on Mom and Dad. Endless.

Then, as you know, we hit the road and Brendon and I really did celebrate our anniversary with a Wal-Mart dinner. Only it was in Vernon, Texas, and I'm telling you, it was the nicest Wal-Mart I've ever been in, in this little nothing of a town near the Oklahoma border. It was an anniversary miracle.

TGIF

Seriously.

My day has kind of been a mess so far. Broken copier. Forgotten words and items in class. Allergies and no allergy meds. I'm ready to wash it all away in a productive, fun, and medicated weekend.

But for now, I'm here, in a sea of papers and red ink. Better make the most of it.

P.S. Don't you just love the new prints I hung in my office this year? One Brendon designed for me, and the other (the plate one), came from this shop on etsy: Whimsy Studios

Funny story about the plate print...when I showed it to Brendon, the literal translation was lost on him at first, and he wanted to know if I was planning on hanging it in the dining room. You know, because I clearly like FOOD a lot, and therefore would want to hang something demonstrating that in the most logical place. Hahaha! I may like food, but I hope I never get to the point that I feel the need to express my affection for it via illustration!

P.P.S. I won't out them, but I just got a message that the literal meaning may be eluding a few others as well. I "have a lot on my plate," people! Just a fun illustration of my current state of being...no actual dinners involved! ;)

iLove

Oh yeah, people, I'm blogging from my phone, otherwise known as My Precious.

I love my little pet! I love him!

And it just may be the cure to my blogging slump. Look at this little snippet of Iife I was able to catch, edit, and upload all from my handy dandy toy...

I don't know where the "but, so" expression came from, but her cute little repetition of it while pretending to talk to Aunt Jenny on my old phone is what caught my attention and made me start filming.

Overly Long Disclaimer for my mother and any others who might be shocked to see that I was filming while driving: 1) Remember that the iphone is awesome and exceptionally handy, 2) I promise I started filming at the last stoplight before my house and stopped when I pulled into the driveway, so I wasn't fidgeting with it while driving, just holding it, and 3) even an iphone can't entice me to text while driving. (If you are guilty of this, knock it off! For real.)

I'm back, baby!

Back in the Saddle

 
Back to school...even Alex. I'm a taskmaster, I tell you.

We've been spending the last week and a half adjusting to the earlier mornings and more scheduled days. And quite frankly...

I'm tired.

So is Alex. The other day, he fell asleep flat out on the floor, which he has never done before. Poor baby.

 

Change is rough. The first day I taught, I came home to him beating on the door and crying. The second and third days, he was all smiles. Then we went and changed things again on him, with Bekah, our sitter, staying with the kids this week instead of Jenny. It didn't quite set him back to square one, but he is definitely clingy when I return and is taking longer naps than usual. His way of processing it all, I guess.

And now I'm going to go process it my way...caffeine.