WE WON! WE WON!

We actually WON a trivia night tonight! Yessssss! We had a team of 8 and I think there were about 40 or so teams total at this particular trivia night! I doubt this will ever happen to me again so I am enjoying it! Thankfully, we had a few people at our table who really knew a lot of stuff. My main contribution was of course food! I took crab rangoon dip and pecan tassies. Our friends brought buffalo chicken dip, which is one of my very favorites, so it was a great night!


CRAB RANGOON DIP (Katie asked for this recipe. If you like crab rangoons, you'll love this dip!)

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
2 6-ounce cans crab meat, drained and flaked
4 to 6 cloves crushed garlic (I always use the larger amount)
dried chives and dill weed to taste
2 tsp soy sauce
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 pkg. large won ton wrappers
vegetable oil for deep frying

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except won tons and oil using an electric mixer. Store covered in refrigerator until 20 minutes before serving. Separate and quarter the won ton wrappers. Drop them one at a time into the hot oil - fry for 30 seconds. (It is key to get the oil at just the right temperature as to not burn the won tons.) Drain of oil and salt. Store in air tight container. The dip and the won tons hold well, so this can be made well in advance.

PECAN TASSIES (Dan the Man asked for this one.)

Shells:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup flour

Filling:
1 cup pecan halves, finely chopped
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp butter or margarine, melted
1 tsp vanilla
powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. For shells, beat butter and cream cheese until well blended. Add flour, mix until a soft dough forms. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls of dough into ungreased wells of mini-muffin pan. I used a Pampered Chef tart shaper, dipped it into some flour, and pressed it into the dough just until the dough rises slightly above the rim of the pan.

For filling, combine pecans, brown sugar, egg, butter, and vanilla. Fill each tart shell with 1 tbsp filling (do not overfill). Bake 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove pan from oven, cool for at least 3 minutes and remove tarts. Cool completely, sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. (Makes 24 tarts)

Overwhelmed

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed right now with activities going on at church and trying to keep up with school. This week seems soooo long already and it's only Wednesday. I am not up to posting anything lengthy right now. I will be back to "normal" soon, I hope!

At A Loss

Bruce's 40th birthday is Tuesday and I have NO IDEA what to get him. Seriously. None. Maybe that means we already have too much stuff, I don't know. He mentioned wanting the 2nd season of Matlock, which has come out on DVD. I told him I have no clue what else to get for him and he said that's OK.....he said I can just keep and "open mind" in case he finds something in the near future he would like to purchase for himself. I guess this is OK but I feel kinda lame not getting him anything. Then again, I don't want to buy just anything, simply for him to have a gift. Augh! I do plan to bake a chocolate cake for him.....his favorite. And we have cards ready to go. But otherwise, I am at such a loss and it makes me feel like a bad wife. Any ideas? I need help.

Sick Day

I stayed home from school today with a sick B1. She has a cold I think and her nose is running a lot. It's running down her throat, which is making her throat sore. Today is the day that her doctor is only there until noon, so we weren't able to get in because they said they were double and triple booked. They are usually really good about getting us in so I wasn't too upset. I got a lot of stuff done today at home while she stayed on the couch and watched TV and played on the laptop.....

I did 4 loads of laundry, folded them, and put them away; I washed dishes that have gathered in the sink since yesterday morning and then I washed our lunch dishes; I finished cleaning the kitchen, including mopping the floor; I typed up all the trivia questions for our church trivia night on March 1 (I and a few other people MADE the questions, but I organized it all into 10 rounds); I exercised; I pattied out our hamburgers for tomorrow night's supper; and I kept B1's hair cut appointment at 3pm and took her there. She was feeling better by then. Oh, and I got our tax information together and dropped it off to the lady who is going to do our taxes this year. I think that's it. Tonight I will try to put a few more things on e-bay. Tomorrow night will probably suck, trying to get caught back up with school work. It always stinks to miss school on a day you weren't planning to miss. But those are the breaks..........

Our Valentine's Day

So this Valentine's Day was spent with our girls. I did the math and figured out that the next time Valentine's Day falls on a Saturday will be in 2015. B1 will be 18 years old then and B2 will be almost 15. I wonder if they will want to spend it with Mom and Dad. So, I figured we better enjoy this one!

This morning, I accompanied B2 and her Brownie troop (along with 3 other moms) to an activity called "Pet Love." It was really pretty neat. I will post pictures and write more about that this week.

Before we left for the Brownie event, we exchanged Valentine's gifts. Bruce and I had said we weren't going to get each other anything but he said he heard something on the radio that said you cannot not get your wife a Valentine's Day gift. So he gave me a little statuette of a Shiba Inu, like Shinza. It is very lifelike! I love it. He gave each of the girls a new Webkinz and a few candy items. We actually did buy him something.....a package of Oreo double stuff cookies! He has been talking about them lately so we decided that would be a good thing to buy for him! Hehe!

We got home about 12:30 and left again a little after 2:00. We first went to a movie. Our girls like movies, if nothing else, for the popcorn! But we saw "New in Town." It was cute and fine for our family. I think B2 got a little bored with it by the time it ended but all in all, a good movie. Then we went to Chuck E. Cheeses! They love going there. We were planning to take them to Dave and Buster's (as a report card celebration along with Valentine's Day) but B1 did not get all A's this quarter. She got a B+ in English. I know this really isn't a big deal but she has earned all A's for quite a while now so we had to make the B+ hurt just a little. Chuck E. Cheeses is a little bit of a step down from Dave and Buster's. But since they remodeled the one in Fairview Heights, it is really good! There is a lot to do there, even for us adults! And I love that they have a salad bar. I think we were there for 2 hours. We used some coupons and got plenty of tokens for the girls and for us. B1 didn't see anything she wanted at the prize stand (I think she is getting too old for that sort of stuff, but she still likes to play the games) so B2 lucked out and got all the tickets to use for some Hannah Montana toy she picked out. While they played games, I sat and graded papers at the table, so I felt very productive!

At one point, there was actually a line out the door to get into the place. I guess we weren't the only ones with the idea to take our kids there for Valentine's Day. We then went to Wal-Mart in O'Fallon to do the shopping. I really don't like that particular Wal-Mart, but I can tolerate it once in awhile. Once we got home, the girls and I prepared 2 dishes that I need to take to church tomorrow. This was after 9:30pm.

I am tired now and ready for bed. Tomorrow night is DATE NIGHT!!! Yippeeeeeee!

Barney

Two years ago today, my first "baby" died. He was a miniature dachshund who we got after we were married for 1 year. We named him Barney. There was a story behind his name. You see, Bruce began his teaching career in Livingston, IL at Livingston High School. Bruce taught PE back then and had several nylon sweatsuits in different colors. Because Livingston's school colors were purple and gold, he had a purple sweatsuit. Bruce organized an intramural hockey league for the kids to play after school one winter and the name of his team was "Barney's Brawlers".....because of the big guy in the purple sweatsuit! One of his students even made a big poster of Barney the dinosaur playing hockey. We kept that poster for several years. Anyway, Bruce switched jobs that year but I knew he would miss his days in Livingston. It is a small town and he became attached to several of the kids. When we were considering getting a dog, I thought that if we named him Barney, it would bring back some good memories for Bruce when he said the dog's name.

Barney was my buddy. He knew who the person in this house was who really took care of him. We got him in August, 1994 when he was 11 weeks old. He was so cute and never really lost the cuteness in his face. He went through a lot in his (almost) 13 years. He had hernia surgery and with that, lost one of his (male genetilia). And then he had to have another surgery a few years later and lost the other one. I cannot even remember exactly what that surgery was for. Then, in 2006, he was diagnosed with diabetes. I noticed he had been drinking a lot and therefore, peeing a lot. I took him to the doctor and thus began giving him insulin shots twice a day. Barney used to go to my parents' house while we were at work. My parents live caddy-corner from the lady who babysat the girls. So.....I would drop off the girls (or pick them up) and then back out of one driveway and right into another one to drop off or pick up my furry child. My mom loved Barney like her own dog. She took great care of him while we were at work. So she too helped with his shots. Finally, we realized that we should be giving him his shot at the exact same time every day. This helped keep him stablized.

Barney still had a lot of accidents in his final months. My dad finally said that we could no longer bring him to their house during the day, and I really didn't blame him for doing that. Whenever we got up in the morning or came home from work, we always had a few puddles on the kitchen floor. We had grown accustomed to blocking Barney in the kitchen (on the vinyl floor) while we were gone. We kept a blanket there for him and sometimes even that was wet. We kept a stack of old towels and did a lot of laundry during those final months.

Barney died on a Monday. The Friday prior to that, he had some real trouble going up our front steps. Once inside the house with my help, I noticed that he just pretty much laid on the carpet in front of the fridge or on his blanket. I would carry him outside when I thought he should go, but he didn't even want to walk anymore. Thank goodness this only lasted a few days. By Sunday, all he did was lay on his blanket. Monday morning, Bruce had school but the girls and I didn't. Bruce came into our bedroom before he left and told me that Barney was not doing very well. I went to check on him and he was still breathing but his eyes were closed and he wouldn't open them. This was early in the morning. A couple hours later, Brittany yelled at me to come into the kitchen. When I did, we found that Barney had lost control of something and there was this brown/blood/chocolate looking fluid that had come out of him. I didn't know what it was but I knew it wasn't poop because it didn't smell like that. I had already called the doctor and we were going to take him in that morning anyway but now I called the doctor and told them what was going on. They said his kidneys had most likely failed. So the girls and I put another of his blankets into a large box. I picked Barney up and B1 tried to wipe some of that substance off of him with one of his clean towels. I then laid him in the box and we loaded him into the back of the Escape and headed to the vet. I knew we wouldn't be bringing him home. I just prayed that he didn't die before we got to the doctor. He didn't. I think God was helping me because I didn't break down and "lose it" in front of the girls. We got there and I paid the bill for enthanasia and cremation. We then said our goodbyes, petted Barney one more time, I took his collar off, and we left. He had been in a doggie coma state for some hours by then. We cried when we left but knew we were doing the right thing.

Now, I wish I had stayed with him while he passed on. But I didn't know if I wanted the girls to witness that and I didn't want them sitting in the waiting room all alone. I think I did the right thing at the time. And I know that one day, whenever I get to Heaven, Barney will be there waiting for me to pass over that golden bridge. I hope he is up there right now having fun with all the other dogs that I grew up with. I miss him.

Bloggy Block

Yeah, I'm having Blogger's Block. I can't think of anything that I deem to be worthwhile to write about. So here are some things happening recently with us:

* A parent at B2's basketball game on Saturday almost got into a fight. Yep.....3rd grade basketball.

* I am currently in the process of making up some trivia questions for our trivia night at church on March 1. We are also doing trivia on Feb. 28, March 27, and March 28!

* My friend Mike today gave me a bottle of Weiner Dog white wine! (Our first pet, Barney, who died on 2/12/07, was a miniature dachshund.)

* Both the girls are spending the night at a friend's house on Sunday night this weekend. No school on Monday means it's a DATE NIGHT for me and Bruce and we CAN'T wait!

* I found out today that my Curves in Highland is reducing hours which will affect the time when I go there. Bummer. So now we are considering joining the Korte Rec Center, which overall would cost $56 more per year and include the entire family instead of just me.

* I have recently fallen in love with crumbled blue cheese! I consider putting it onto just about everything I eat!

That's about it for now. Total randomness!

Just Checking In

Not much new going on with us.....just wanted to check in so Dan the Man doesn't think I am ignoring him!

Last night I kept the scoreboard/clock at the Triad girls BBall game, which we lost to Highland, our arch rivals, by 11. Yuck. Tonight B1 had an orthodontist appointment after school, then B2 and I had haircut appointments after that, then B1 and Bruce left to go to Granite's girls BBall game while B2 and I grabbed a bite at home before heading to church for a meeting for me. We got home about 8:30. Tomorrow, I have a union meeting right after school and then it's my turn to drive B2 and her friend to gymnastics while Bruce takes B1 to pitching lessons. Thursday, both girls have basketball practice after dinner. Friday, B2 wants to go to a "Kids Night Out" at THS. Saturday, both girls have basketball games in Mt. Olive in the afternoon and then we have Blues tickets for all 4 of us that night. Looking forward to that. And Sunday, B1 has hitting practice in the afternoon and Bruce has a khoury league board meeting at 6pm. I guess for not having much going on, we have a lot going on!

Today was the first day of our 2nd semester. Yeah, today, not Jan. 5 but Feb. 3! It's because we started so darn late this year. Oh well! Hope your week is going good so far.

Retro Peanut Butter Pie

I made 2 "Retro Peanut Butter" pies for the bingo lunch stand tonight. See, every Saturday night, the Lions Club in our town holds a bingo. And every week, different organizations in town take turns hosting the bingo lunch stand. The organizations are from various places. Our church sometimes has a group from the Sunday School or the Ladies Fellowship, some of the scout organizations take a turn, other churches take turns, there's a Relay for Life team that participates, etc. Most of the food sold at the lunch stand is donated by members of that particular group. Tonight it is the Ladies Fellowship from our church. I just came home from taking my pies there. My mom and 3 other ladies are working the stand. They have a lot of good-looking desserts tonight. Here was my contribution: These are actually really easy to make. I got the recipe from some sort of family magazine I used to subscribe to. It's been in my recipe box for awhile now and since Bruce doesn't like peanut butter, I don't make it much at home, but it is my "go to" recipe for the bingo lunch stand.

For one pie:

1 graham cracker crust
1 8-oz. package cream cheese
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1 8-oz. container whipped cream plus additional for decoration
2 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, frozen
chocolate syrup

Cream the cream cheese and brown sugar together for 2-3 minutes until well blended. Add peanut butter, vanilla, and milk and blend. Add the whipped cream about 1/3 at a time and blend completely before adding more. When everything is mixed, pour into graham cracker crust. Cut each peanut butter cup into 8 pieces (like a pie). Dollop more whipped cream on top (or use cake decorating tools) to make the pie look "fancy." Place peanut butter cup pieces at random places on pie. Drizzle chocolate syrup over the top. Voila!

Blackjack Bullies

As I mentioned in a previous post, I went to Lumiere Place with some friends on Saturday night and played some blackjack. I am not a big gambler and neither is Bruce, but we do enjoy going to the casinos. We have our (usually $40) limit, and if we use it all, then we are done. Compared to many people, $40 is nothing to spend at a casino. I have enjoyed playing blackjack for the past few years. At first, I was kind of nervous about it but now I am OK sitting down at a table and playing.

With my spending limit being as low as it is, I usually try to find a $5 table and stay there. But typically on a weekend night, the minimum betting table that one can find is $10. This was the case Saturday night. I walked around for a little while looking for a $5 table with no luck and then opted to sit down at a $10 table. I cashed in $50 (yes, more than my usual limit) and bet $10 on the first hand. Someone asked me if I was going to wait for a new chute and I said "no."

On my first hand, I was dealt an ace and a 7. The dealer was showing a 5. I had either 8 or 18 (not a bad blackjack hand) and we are supposed to believe the dealer is going to bust because they are holding a "bust" card. Well, anyway, I chose to stand. Some middle-aged white woman at the other end of the table (I was sitting in the spot right next to "3rd base" (one spot from the last player)) starts saying something like "double down on that!" and I just looked at her and said "no." FYI.....I almost always double down on 11 and sometimes on 10 if the dealer is showing something lower than 10. I never double down on anything else. This is my own personal choice and I make it mostly because I don't have that much $$$ to lose. I realize that doubling down might win me twice as much money, but it could also lose me that money. And I am not comfortable doing so on anything other than the 2 aforementioned situations. Well, immediately, this woman starts ranting about how that was a stupid decision and that she is now going to sit out the next hand because she's not going to play when someone who can't make the right decisions is at the table.

OK, whatever, lady. So I keep playing. And I lose a couple hands and then start winning. I double down when I feel comfortable with it. I hit on 16 and anything lower when the dealer is showing anything higher, and I begin winning. I think she then saw that yes, I really do kind of know what I am doing. She only sat out about 2 hands and then got back in. So we keep playing. A man comes to the table and begins playing. The woman at 3rd base keeps playing. And finally, 2 barely 21-year old college girls come to play. They only have $20 each and are helping each other and encouraging each other, and sharing money. They are doing fine. I now have my original $50 in chips (which I stuck into my purse and did not touch again, so that I knew I would at least break even on the night) and about $35 more on the table. I tell myself that if I lose that $35, I am done. We play some more hands.

Eventually, during one of the rounds, one of the college girls cannot decide whether to stay or hit. The two people on the left side of her who still have to play are myself and the woman at 3rd base. The girl looks at me and says "if I hit, will that mess you up?" I look back at her and say (in a very nice voice) something like "I don't care what you do; I'm not going to get mad at you for anything you chose to do at this table. It's your money." And I LOOK DIRECTLY INTO THE EYES OF THE %ITCH ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THEM as I am saying this. Well, we finish that hand and then the %itch looks at me and says "what is your name?" I tell her. She then says "Beth, I owe you an apology." I said "thank you" as sternly yet nicely as I could. I wanted to get the point across to her that yes, I certainly thought she acted out of turn.

I just don't get people who get all worked up at what decisions other people make at a blackjack table. Seriously, do you really think that my not hitting on one hand can mess up the entire chute? Get real! And worry about your own money. Maybe I am missing something. Maybe that being a math teacher, I should realize more about the cards than I do. I don't know. I do know though that I absolutely hate it when someone tries to influence the decisions of others who have not asked for their opinion. People are not going to learn unless they make mistakes. That's how I learned (and also by playing on my phone). So don't worry about them. Worry about you. If you really can't stand it anymore, get up and move to a different table quietly, without belittling anyone else. Gees people, get a life!

CHAMPIONS AGAIN!

OK, so I don't usually post more than once a day (or more than once every 3 days for that matter) but I have to write about the basketball game today. We won but not very easily. At halftime, the score was only 6-2 (us winning). Even for 6th graders, this is obviously a very low score. At one point mid-second half, we were only up by 2, then 3 and finally 5 and then 7. I felt good. With about 3 minutes left, we were ahead by 5. I began texting one of my best friends who is also a sports mom and actually was the one who brought B1 to this tournament last year when Bruce and I were in Vegas. By the time I got the text typed into my phone, there were only 15 seconds left in the game and we were still ahead by 5. Well, one of the Troy players then made a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left so now we are ahead by 2. Then, our girl inbounds the ball under their basket and they steal it and shoot with 1 second left and make the shot. Game tied. UGH. I never did send that text. I instead called her during the time between regulation and overtime, simply because I needed to tell someone about what was going on!

We played the first 2-minute overtime and at the end of that, the score was still tied (each team scored 1 point in the overtime period). In the second overtime, one of their girls got a technical for guarding our player over the line while she was trying to inbound the ball. So we got foul shots but missed them both. Finally, we were winning by 2 with like 30 seconds to go and ended up just kind of passing the ball around to end the game. It was very exciting. I know the mouths of our players, coaches, and fans were on the floor at the end of regulation though with their 5 points in the last 15 seconds. Wow.

No matter.....it's always nice to beat a team from TROY. I still don't get why they get to call themselves the Knights when we are all Knights when we get to high school. Then again, they've always done stuff like that. Us little Cubs beat those big old Knights! YAY JAKEY HOOPS!!!!! We are proud of YOU! And great game Jordyn Alford (who scored 10 of our 19 points today)! Way to go!

Mickey Pancakes!

While eating my cereal yesterday morning, I noticed a lot of little scratches on the spoon I was using. Scratches on the front and the back sides.....just little scratches.....nothing you can feel when you are using the spoon to eat, but something you do notice if you look closely. I started to wonder where they had come from. And then I realized that those are 15 years worth of our life. When we received that silverware set as a wedding gift, everything was smooth and perfect. It's not as noticeable on the forks, but on the spoons, you can see the wear. I like it. Those scratches remind me of 15 years of happy times. I remember at my wedding shower that someone said something like "I think everyone should have another shower after they are married for 20 years, just to get fresh towels, utensils, linens, etc." Back then I had no idea why this might be necessary, but now I do! Here is part of our breakfast this morning. I went out with some girlfriends last night to the Royal Dumpe, which was a lot of fun. I got the show, dinner, and a HUGE pina colada (picture fishbowl), tax, and tip for $40.50. Not a bad deal. Anyway, afterwards, we went to Lumiere Place for an hour or so. I played blackjack (there's a story for another post). I didn't wake up this morning until 8:30 and everyone else was still asleep too. So......we were bad parents this morning (sorry Patti) and didn't have our kids go to Sunday School. I think this is the first time they have missed this year. Anyway, we had pancakes and bacon for breakfast. This was the first time I have used my Mickey Mouse shaper thingy that I purchased at Disney World this summer. We also have an ice cube tray in the shape of Mickey. The girls like to pop those out and just have them as a snack.

B1 plays in the championship basketball game of the tournament today against Troy. Oh how nice it would be to beat them. We have already beat them once this year and I know they would definitely like to beat us. Wish us luck!

Sushi Anyone?

I bought some sushi tonight at Schnucks in O'Fallon. Well, I think it's sushi. If there is no raw fish in it but it still has the rice and seaweed stuff, is that sushi?

I never thought about tasting this stuff until I went to Japanese Garden with my friend Katie in the summer of 2007. She ordered some kind of roll, maybe a California roll? I can't remember. Anyway, I tasted it and I liked it. I visited this restaurant again back in November with some other teachers and I ordered the California roll for myself. I honestly don't remember what was in it but I know there was no raw fish.

Ever since then, I have been hungry for more sushi. I can't say I've been craving it, but I do have a taste for it once in awhile. So tonight, while B2 was at gymnastics, I did some grocery shopping and this particular Schnucks (which used to be a Hart grocery store) has sushi in their deli area. I bought one called cream cheese sushi. It had cream cheese of course, cucumber, and a little crab meat (I know, I know.....this is fish, but since I love crab legs, I don't consider it to be "gross" like I think raw fish would be) as well as the rice and seaweed stuff (is that really seaweed or some other kind of wrap thing?). Anyway, it came with 12 pieces, the 2 little sauce things, and a packet of soy sauce. I ate 6 of them for dinner tonight and am taking the other 6 in my lunch tomorrow.

Last time I was at this grocery store, I bought a new kind of salad dressing that has the flavors of teriyaki and ginger. I made a salad to go in my lunch tomorrow too that has crunchy chow mein noodles in it. So.....my lunch is going to definitely have an Asian flair tomorrow! Never mind the Girl Scout cookies for dessert! Ha ha!

6th Grade Basketball

B1's basketball team is in a tournament this week in Bethalto. They won their first game on Saturday pretty handily and tonight, supposedly played against a "good" team. They won though, 24-3. Now, B1's team is certainly not a bunch of all-stars. They were lucky to win a few games in the league they played in earlier this year in Highland. But I guess this tournament is more to their liking as it has teams from a few smaller towns, like ours. Anyway, B1 and 4 other players participated in the free throw contest on Saturday. She made 4 of 10 that day and advanced (with another girl on her team who made 5 of 10) to the next round. Tonight, they shot again, this time 20 free throws each. B1 made 9 of them and her teammate made 5. I am guessing she will advance to the next round but I am not positive about that. It is fun to watch though! She has this routine where she bounces the ball 5 times, then kind of spins it upwards a little above her head, then places her hands on the ball and finally shoots. I guess it works for her!

Last year, her team won this tournament. It was in February last year and Bruce and I were in Las Vegas with his mom and sister. B1 made a shot with 2 seconds left in the game to win it! And yeah, we missed it. But at least we know she did well. Hopefully the team will repeat their championship this year.

The next game is on Saturday morning at 11:00am. Win or lose, we will play again on Sunday, either for 3rd place or (hopefully) 1st place.

Dan and Willy.....maybe you guys could come to the game on Saturday! It's not very far from your house really. And B2 can entertain your kids while you watch! Give us a call!

Cold Weather!

Bruce was off school today and will be again tomorrow due to the cold weather. We tough folks at Triad were not off. We can make it through the cold. Not that I'm still not holding my breath for tomorrow though! Ha ha. But yeah, I'm 95% sure we'll be in school tomorrow and I know that I will be glad about it when May and June are here. But sleeping in on cold days is suuuurrrrre nice! :-)

We're doing a trivia night tomorrow night at my school which should be a fun evening with friends. I always look forward to that.

Lots of basketball games are on the schedule for the weekend and also an annual meeting/potluck at church on Sunday. Monday we are off school for MLK Day. I plan to watch the presidential inaguration on Tuesday. One of my former students was invited to attend it. He is very excited and leaves tomorrow for a weekend full of activities.

Our Bulletin Board

I like Christmas cards. I like sending them and I like receiving them. I especially enjoy the letters and pictures that people often send with the card. I really like catching up on the lives of everyone and seeing how their children have grown.

For the past 3 years, I have made our Christmas cards. In 2006, I did a red theme with a picture of the girls dressed in Cardinal attire. This was to celebrate the fact that they had won the World Series that year. In 2007, it was a blue theme with a picture of the 4 of us at Niagara Falls. I figured the blue paper would go well with the water.

Here is a picture of what this year's card looked like:
We are on the Disney Wonder cruise ship. We had spent the day on Castaway Cay, which is Disney's private island. This is why we look so tanned! I swear, Bruce is already that dark in April! And B1 tans just like him. B2 and I have some pretty decent color in this pic as well! This had been an awesome day and this picture was taken on our last night on the ship. I chose the red Minnie Mouse polka dot paper and black background to go with Mickey for this year's card.

So, after Christmas, I take all of the real picture we have received in our cards (I don't use the pictures that were printed on paper within a letter) and make a collage of them on our bulletin board. I take down the pictures from the previous year and put them away first. This bulletin board hangs right behind our front door in the kitchen. We see it every time we come in that door or the door from the garage. We also see it when we turn a light on or off. I love looking at these pictures. Some of them are of people and kids we see all the time. Some of them are of kids we have never even met (but we know their parents). And then there are all the people and kids in between. As it seems to grow all the time, we have more pictures on our board this year than ever. I have begun taping pictures around the wooden edge of the bulletin board too. I have to save some room at the bottom of the board for our grocery list, Wal-Mart list, and coupons!

I like it. I like it a lot!

Uneventful

Not much happening with us. That is good I guess. We went to the movies tonight and saw "Bride Wars." It was pretty predictable but the girls enjoyed it and the popcorn was good. What more can you ask for? Tomorrow, we actually have nothing much planned. We shouldn't even have to leave town! We are going to church (down the street), eating supper at home (home-made pizza), and then Bruce has a Khoury League meeting at 6pm at the park (down the street again). It just about kills him to not have anything to do. I like hanging out at home all day. There is always something for me to do!

A Day Off Already!

OK, I survived the first day back with no trouble. But now we have a snow day today. Don't get me wrong, I love the unexpected day off, but I also know that I am going to hate this come June! Ugh.

Goals for today: type minutes for church (I am the secretary of our council), walk on the treadmill, take pictures from everyone's Christmas cards.....cut them down to size.....put them on our bullitin board, finish setting out all the "normal" stuff that was put away during the holidays, organize my scrapbook stuff, and catch up on laundry. If there is time, also list some things on e-bay and organize some of my recipes.

Yeah, that's a lot on my list so I better get going!

Back to the "Grind"

Well, today is it.....my last day of "freedom" for this school break. It has certainly been a nice one, 16 days total. This is one of the best perks of being a teacher, the breaks! And every time we have one, I fall into a bad rut of staying up waaaayyyyy too late and sleeping late. Last night, I went to bed at 1am and for about 3 nights prior to that, it was 2am. But then my times of rolling out of bed in the morning have been getting later and later as well. Today was actually an early day for me at 9:08am!

Yeah. Tomorrow's gonna suck.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We spent last night bowling with friends. We had a great time as this has pretty much become our tradition on New Year's Eve. We all bring food, we play cards while we bowl, and we just have a good time together. The kids get to have the bumpers up on their lane, and I think us adults wish we did as well! I thought this was kind of a neat picture of the lanes with the main lights off and the disco lights on!

Me and Bruce

Rick and Kim

Mike and Michelle

B1 and B2

Bruce and Mike after doing the "Whammy Bowl." They didn't fair so well. Nice look on Bruce's face, huh!?!

B1 trying to be all serious about her bowling. She was 'posing' for this picture!

Two of the other kids being all serious about keeping score on paper. They were really copying from the machine in front of them I think!

All the kids together. We had a very fun time! Thanks for joining us everyone!