Walking

Just finished my 4 mile Bloomington loop walk.  I walk 15 minute miles, so I can leave the house and get home in one hour!  Yippee for me.  The weather is great, didn't even work up a sweat.  Then Bill called and said he was coming home with a pizza for dinner!  What are you going to do...?
I guess that means I walk, again, tomorrow.  With my student teacher doing all of the teaching, I have found myself becoming very lazy. All I do, for the most part, it read in the library.  Oh well, he'll be finishing up in April, then I can get of my duff and move around, again.

Happy Birthday to me!

Kind of sound like Logan.  He would say that on his birthday, and it sounded funny at the time.  I want to thank all of my friends and family for your birthday wishes.  I'm pretty much at the point in my life where I want to start counting backwards, if that's ok with everyone.  WOW! a whopping 63! I even cringe when I say that number.
Bill took me to a movie on Friday night, and then we watched the BYU/SDSU game on Saturday, and that was an amazing game.  We went to Costco after, and then had dinner with Jeremy and Mariah at Outback.  Thanks Jer and Mo for dinner!  When we got home, I wanted to watch a movie, so I convinced Bill to watch "A Simple Twist of Fate" with me.  I love that movie.
I talked to my brother, Bill last night, and I feel I need to make more phone calls to my mother in Portland.  She calls my brother on a daily basis, and for the most part, has forgotten she already shared with him her concerns the previous phone call.  I need to try to take the burden off of both Bill and Lois (sister-in-law).  My mother needs to just talk, even though she won't remember most of what she said prior, that's ok.  Short term memory (or the loss of it) is really sad.
 On the bright side, there's only 2 more weeks until spring break.  Although with a student teacher, I feel I'm already on break, it will be good to totally get away from school.

Have a great week!

Homemade Bread!

Bill and I bought a 5 gallon bucket of wheat at Costco a couple of weeks ago, and when I was in Portland last week, he ground up a lot of it (to make whole wheat flour).  What a sweetie. That was all fine and good, until I told him when you grind wheat into flour, you need to use it relatively soon, since it will lose it's nutrients.  Oh great.  I found a recipe, so on Saturday I made five loaves of homemade bread...and not the kind you use your bread machine, either.  I was so proud of myself.  We did have to freeze most of the loaves, but all we need to do is pull out a loaf from the freezer, and voila! (French, for "there it is").  It makes the best toast.  Handcarts, and covered wagons here we come!

The Amazing Race is Back!

I'm thinking I need to apply to be on the "Amazing Race."  I used to think I would like the challenge of "Survivor," but I don't think my swimsuit would fit in with all those bikinis.  I also know I would look downright pitiful in the skimpy clothes they need to fuzz out from time to time when they're racing and fighting.  Now, "The Amazing Race" on the other hand, I can do.  I can stay decently dressed, and use my wide array of skills to beat out the other contestants.  Notice I didn't say, "beat up" those other contestants.  I would need a partner.  Can you imagine doing the race with Bill?  He would do real well in the eating and biking contests, but anything to do with water and swimming, not so much.  It would be funny, as I think about an eating contest, and trying to get done as fast as you can with Bill eating at his pace, and wanting to finish everything on his plate (I'm laughing just thinking about it)!

 

 

 

Which one?

Jessica Schmitt's fundraiser

Here is the link to Jessica's story and my high school's involvement with the fundraising.  It will tug at your heartstrings.
http://jessicasmiracle.blogspot.com

Jessica Schmitt Fundraiser

Pine View Basketball team won!!!

Pine View has now won three games in a row, and we just need Snow Canyon (whom we just beat) to beat Dixie next Wednesday.  If this happens we go on to playoffs.  It's been such a weird season.  We started off great, then couldn't win a game for a while.  Our whole student body has taken up the cause to help a little girl named Jessica Schmitt (4 years old) who is battling cancer. The team were able to get these amazing pink Nike basketball shoes donated, to wear in the last three games, and now they'll be auctioned off to help Jessica's family with the medical bills.  We've had fund raisers all the way from a "Big Mac" eat-off to $5 hair cuts by professional stylists.  A pretty amazing bunch of kids.
Now I have President's Day off on Monday, and I'm soooo glad.  Even though I have a student teacher, I still have to get up early, and I do have my Tuesday night class that I teach.  Oh well, spring break is coming up, and that's a good thing.  Am I rambling?
One more thing...my tooth/jaw/ear/head still hurts.  I don't know if I need a root canal, since the x rays don't really show anything.  A teacher at school had something similar that started last May, and the pain drove her nuts.  She said her neurologist said it's also called the "suicide disease."  It has something to do with a nerve behind your ear, that may be taken care of through surgery, but I haven't been to a neurologist, and I sort of like the idea of thinking I may have something that's called "suicide disease."  Don't worry, I have a high pain tolerance (I teach), and I would get it taken care of waaaay before anything drastic takes place :)

He's in the army now (almost)

Logan, Vicki and Addison came over tonight to say goodbye.  Logan flies out to Fort Benning, Georgia next Tuesday morning to begin his basic training, prior to his OCS training this summer.  Here's a few pics of Addison and grandpa, and then all of them.  I'm not in the picture because someone has to take it!

Grandpa teaching Addison to fly!

Grandpa tickling Addison.

Goodbye, Logie, sniff, sniff.

Looking forward to Springtime!

Every time the middle of February hits, I start to look forward to Spring.  I intentionally wear cooler clothes (then have to turn the heat on in my classroom), drive with a skip in my step (I mean walk), and watch for our Mulberry trees to bud.  I am not kidding.  The first sign of green buds make me a bit giddy.  Now that sounds downright ridiculous, but, it does tell you how much I'm looking forward to the seasonal change.
School's been pretty easy for the past 3 weeks, and it will continue to be so until after Spring Break.  I have a student teacher, and I think I'm signing up for another one next year.  He's doing pretty well, but there are times that I get pretty bored.  Good thing I love to read.
Just returned from grandma's in Portland.  It was her 94th birthday on Feb. 12, so I thought a quick visit would be fun for her and I.  Before I left on Sunday, she sat me down and had "the talk."  If you know my mom, you'll know what I'm talking about.  To be honest with you, I don't think she has "the talk" with my brothers...who knows?  OK, so here's the topic of this very serious conversation my mother had with me.  She told me she doesn't have very long to live, maybe 2 weeks, 2 months, who knows, but she knows it won't be long.  This is my thought:  why has she been telling me this for the past year or so?  I love my mom dearly, but bless her heart, her short term memory is pretty well shot.  Thus the reason she gives me the same "talk" every few months.  It was a bit depressing.  I told her that Bill and I were coming up to Portland this summer, so she better not die.  What a conversation!
Oh, Happy Valentine's Day to everyone, and Happy Birthday to Maggie Mae, and Zachary (Feb. 13).  Today, our choir went around to different classrooms to deliver their "Singing Valentines."  It was pretty cute.  One of my students was beet red.
I've decided to go on a diet.  At least I'll start it when that bag of cookies are gone.  No willpower.  I have been walking the loop here in Bloomington (3.75 miles) in one hour.  I stepped on the scales this morning, and noticed that I've gained 10 pounds since last year at this time.  EEK!  Biggest Looser, here I come.
Last comment:  I know Facebook is the most popular form of social networking, but it sort of bums me out.  When I started this blog a couple of years ago, I found the learning curve to be a bit steep, but I managed it, and was quite pleased with myself.  Sometimes I ramble on, and I'm certainly not as adept at making it as cute as Summer and Ashley (and the rest of you).  ANYWAY, now everyone uses FB to  socialize, and no one reads/socializes with their blogs much anymore.  I love to blog, and I can talk all I want...except everyone else has switched to FB.  I will remain faithful, though,  and continue to blog.  I just love the free backgrounds and one of these days I learn how to put music on my blog (right, Summer?)

Just try to imagine this as one of our Mulberry trees...different neighborhood, no fence, and as you can see, leaves!