Fun Times

Hello friends! I realize that it has been a while, and lots has happened. At the same time, my life has slowed down somewhat.

First of all, I feel like I am finally making progress with my students! I am up to 20 in my class, and at times, it is mass chaos. But those times are getting fewer and the pure learning times are getting greater. Our schedule is completely changing tomorrow, so I may be singing a different tune in 24 hours, but only time will tell. I am praying that the schedule changes won't affect the kids too much. We just finished our parent/teacher conferences, so I am hoping my discussions with parents and recruiting efforts for their help will not be in vain. Looking back over the last 37 school days, I realized that my kids really have come far. I have one student who came in speaking absolutely no english and had no clue how to hold a pencil. He is now asking for help in his own sweet little way, and writing his name independently! Another student came in tracing the letters in the air when asked the name of the letter, and she can now name more than half of them!! And still another, would not sit still in his chair, on the rug, or anywhere else and was constantly talking or screaming. He will now sit anywhere you ask him too and only needs a few reminders to zip his lips and wait his turn. So, while it may be small and slow progress, it is progress nonetheless!! I am just praying that more time will be good for these precious 5 years old who bless my life.

The high school marching band show is now complete and is still working on coming together. My girls have a tough job at being visually appealing even though they are small in number. While they tend to frustrate me to no end, I really am proud of them. We were barely making it with drop spins and hard hits at band camp, but they are now executing their work to an honorable extent. We still have some work to do, but I am comfortable with where we are at this point. We have our exhibition show a week from tomorrow which is right before what will now be our first competition. So our rehearsals this week will be spent cleaning and making sure everyone is comfortable. I need them to perform and I know they will be rewarded for their efforts!

Most of you know about the great flood of Georgia... no worries, I survived! AND I even enjoyed a wonderful day off. While it was unfortunate for those in other areas of my county, I thankfully had no big damage. I knew I needed a new roof and was hoping to wait a little bit longer, but the day the rain stopped, I started getting wet stains on my ceiling. My dad, being the wonderful man he is, went up in my attic to find the leaking spot, but to no avail. So, I will just have to suck it up and get a new roof sooner than later! The damage to the ceiling is not too bad - it's won't require repair, just a new coat of paint. To be honest, I'm done with painting for a while, so I will just have to have some apots on the ceiling until I'm ready to paint a ceiling!

In August, I asked you to pray for me and a big decision I had to make. Well, it has been made... I now have a roommate, but it is not your typical roommate situation. H moved in a week ago, and things have been great. She is a wonderful girl and I know she has a wonderful future ahead of her. H is a high school student at Sprayberry that I have gotten to know through Nicole and my work with Sprayberry, as well as through ALLIANCE. I have had fun getting to know her more this week and spending more time with her. She is very outgoing and beautiful. I told her on our way to school/work the other morning that I am already attached - she's stuck with me now! Please continue to pray for me and for H. And thanks to everyone for your prayers, encouragement, and support!!

Ok, I'm out like a fat kid loves cake to hit the sack - this weekend in which I have done nothing has been exhausting! :) Have a wonderful week!

Respond and Rework

I know you're in shock that I've written two posts in a few days, but it's true. Just don't get used to it!!

Ashley tagged me for a Respond and Rework! I don’t normally like things like this, but with an extra day off work, I decided to give it a whirl.
Rules: 1. Respond and rework: Answer the questions on your blog, Replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, and add one more question of your own. 2. Tag other un-tagged people.
What's your favorite article of clothing?
My pajamas!
What is your favorite board game?
So it’s not technically a board game, but I am OBSESSED with CatchPhrase! I will play it anytime, anywhere – including the car in horrible traffic!!!! 
What is your favorite holiday tradition?
We have so many in my family, but I’d have to say Christmas. We go to my grandparents’ house for lunch/dinner. We open presents from youngest to oldest. We usually sing Christmas carols and just spend time together.
What was the last thing you bought?
Groceries
What are you listening to right now?
iTunes: Watermark
What is your favorite weather?
A sunny but cool day
What is your least favorite season?
Probably winter even though I love sweaters and such.
What's in your purse?
Wallet, calendar, notebook, Aquaphor, keys, pens, camera
Say something to the person who tagged you:
Ashley, I am so glad that we have remained friends even though we live in two separate cities. I’m so excited about seeing you soon, and very glad we talked last night!
What is your favorite dessert or cool treat?
I love anything with chocolate!!!
What did you want to become as a child?
A teacher! (funny how that worked out, right?)
What do you want to be now?
A wife and mother
What is your favorite song?
Hmm, tough choice, but I’ll go with I Run to You by Lady Antebellum
If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Huntsville, Alabama to see my BFF, Brittany
What are your most challenging goals right now?
To share the love of God with those around me – it really shouldn’t be difficult but life is so hurry, hurry, rush, rush!
What is your 5 year plan?
Haha, everybody knows this one: get married and have babies – LOTS of them! One day, my friends, one day...
What is your favorite sport to watch?
Umm, I don’t really know. Baseball is the only one I truly understand but football is exciting.
What show would you want to be a cast member on (reality included)?
Well, I’m not sure. I don’t really want to be in any of the shows I like, but I really like Grey’s Anatomy and Army Wives.
What is your favorite magazine?
People
What is your most prized possession?
Call me crazy, but my house! I worked hard for it!
Name one favorite childhood memory.
Another tough one… I’ll go with our annual family beach trips. We still go to the same place every year with ALL of us – grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousins, plus us. So much fun!
What is your favorite book of the Bible?
I love the story that Genesis tells. But I also like Psalm.
What is your favorite quote?
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10
What is one country you aren’t interested in visiting?
I have a goal of visiting 6 out of the continents before I die, so I’ll go to whatever country I need to check that continent off my list!
What is your favorite kitchen utensil?
My Pampered Chef ice cream scoop – it has something like anti-freeze in it, so it makes scooping ice cream incredibly easy!!
I don't really have anyone to tag because Ashley already did, so I just reinforce her tags!!

A Season of My Life Revisited

Most of you know, or have read, that I marched with the drum corps, ALLIANCE, for the last six and a half months. No, I have not marched since high school, so yes, I realized that some things never change. I had a love/hate relationship with color guard in high school, and that love/hate relationship continues today. Haha. I call it a love/hate relationship because I often dreaded going to rehearsal, hated the heat and the fact that I had no social life, but in the end, loved that I participated in this great activity again! I am so grateful for the opportunity to perform again, and realized that I missed it a lot. However, I have no regrets of taking a six year break during college and thereafter. I learned a lot and had so much fun. I got to know some great people, as well as further build existing friendships. So let me tell you the story...

After graduating college, I was given the opportunity to work with the current guard instructor at Marietta (my alma mater). I really didn't want to do it, because I still had the bitter taste of all things guard from high school. The band director did much convincing, and there I was helping out at Band Camp. I don't think I was much help that fall because I was trying to get the art of teaching under my belt. The next year, the guard instructor left because she got married, so it was just me. Band Camp was a little rough because I was there by myself and trying to write work. A big shout-out to Nicole for all her help with choreography!! I managed to make it through the season and through my second year of teaching. I really did enjoy the girls and the good times we had, so I decided to try for a winter guard. Unfortunately, it just didn't happen. However, Nicole did have a winter guard at Sprayberry, so I went to help her out when I could. I loved it. I remembered why I had agreed to help out at Marietta.

Nicole has marched with ALLIANCE for several years now, and has pestered me about trying it for a couple of years. Well, after much coercion on her part and discussions with my mom, I decided to give it a shot. I told Nicole I would go to one camp and see how it went. I was sure that I wouldn't remember how to do anything and convinced that I would walk out hating it. Oh, how wrong I was!! I fell in love with it all over again and joined ALLIANCE. Ask any of my friends and they will tell you that I hated going to rehearsals every weekend. One reason is because we always seemed to have it on a weekend that my friends planned something fun. By the time our season was nearing its end, I was DONE. I had been through three weeks of Band Camp with Marietta, plus mulitple rehearsals and performances with ALLIANCE, and on top of all that, I started a new school year with a challenging class! I was so over it. I really didn't have motivation for anything. However, I knew I had an obligation to fulfill (and a plane ticket to Rochester) so I flew up for Championships on Labor Day weekend. ALLIANCE was in 11th place (out of 13) going into Prelims. We weren't sure if our performance on Saturday had been enough, but it was! We ended Prelims in 9th place. On Sunday, we went out on the field again for Finals, and just had fun. We knew what we had to do, but we also knew it was the last time this group of people would be performing together again. We finished in 8th place. It was awesome. As I was walking back to the truck with everyone, I turned to my mom and said, "I'm so irritated because this makes it all worth it and makes me love this." Haha. That's terrible, but so true. So, that's my story of "going back in time" and doing something I thought I'd never do again. I don't have an answer if you ask me if I'm going to do it again because I honestly have no idea. I have lots of things to consider and some decisions to make. But I have time, so for now, I am going to enjoy the free time I have and give my body a break!
H, me, and Nicole on Saturday before we headed to warm-up for Prelims.
Kail, Robin, Tammy, (freaky) Tim, Nicole, H, me, Michelle, and Ayaka on Saturday night after we performed and before we went to dinner!

All the guard girls on Sunday before our Finals performance!

So the same as I had a love/hate relationship with color guard in high school, that same love/hate relationship has continued in my adult life. But, when I look back and reflect on the times, they really were wonderful in both experiences. We will have to wait and see what the future holds!

Off to watch Army Wives and hit the sack in preparation for my crazy week ahead - have a good one everybody!!

Called OUT

WOW, too bad it's not Wednesday anymore because I think I could win the WOW Wednesday prize on the local country station with my story about how my BFF totally called me OUT yesterday!!! Ok, not really, but yes, I did reveal to her my disappointment that she had not updated; however, I quickly followed it up with the fact that I have been restraining from saying anything lately because I know that I have not updated in a while either. SO here it goes...

What a ridiculously crazy month July ended up being for me!! I walked in the Marietta 4th of July parade with my guard girls (and Heather). As soon as I was at the end, I got in my car, picked up my brother, and we were off to Sarasota for two weeks - sorta. Talk about a vacation!!! So relaxing. In the middle weekend, I went to Rebecca & Wesley's wedding. I had way too much fun spending time with my Cohort C girls. We definitely rocked it in the minivan and had an awesome time at the reception. In fact, I had an incredibly difficult time walking in the sand the next week because my calves were permanently on fire from dancing so much! I flew home early for practice, and that is when the madness began.
So yes, practice. Not for my guard girls - for ME. I can't say no!! And really, I'm okay with it this time. I became a performing member of Alliance Drum and Bugle Corps back in the spring. It has kicked my butt, but not as much as I thought it would. It's just taken up a LOT of time. I had my first performance a few weeks ago, and wow, I forgot how much I love it. I really do love that feeling while I'm performing and afterwards. I've since had another show in Nashville (which was a trip for the books), and we have another one this weekend in Rockmart. We have Championships in Rochester over Labor Day weekend. Honestly, I don't care how well we do or don't do - I'm just there to perform and have fun. So far, mission accomplished even though I am exhausted ALL the time!!
After that weekend, it was the beginning of Band Camp. I worked at Marietta's, then drove to Sprayberry and helped there. Then, Nicole and I would go to the church gym to choreograph work. And that lasted two weeks. Talk about craziness!!

And, with all of that still going on (as it is now), I started back to my REAL job - teaching Kindergarten! Amazingly, I got my classroom into order and actually had plans for the first few days of school ready ahead of time. I have since met my 18 new students for the year and realized that I have my work cut out for me. Since my life is so crazy right now, I'm not really up for the challenge; however, it IS my job so I am trying to mentally prepare myself. I just keep finding the positive traits of each student and reminding myself of those every second. It is a little crazy in my room these days and I am not the nicest teacher, but I am hoping that it will pay off on down the road. Crossing my fingers!

In the meantime, there is something else going on in my life that has been a big decision for me and will greatly affect my life in the near future. All I ask is that you pray for me that God's will be done in this situation. I am excited about the prospect and know that everything will work out. It's uncertain right now and there are lots of questions, but after I know things are settled, I will share a few more details. It has happened quickly, but I know that I have made the right choice and am doing what God wants, but it is up to Him to work it out!

SO, there's my life since my last post in a nutshell (a big nutshell, that is!). Hope you all enjoyed it!

One more thing... B&B find out on Monday if Poppyseed will be a boy or a girl - this aunt just doesn't even have words to express the excitement!!!!!!!!!!!

I Heart Plumbers

Haha, so yes, it's true. Plumbers have definitely been a large part of my life for the last five months (yes, today is my 6-month anniversary of living in my house!!) As some of you may remember, my plumbing issues began about a month after I moved in. Go here to refresh your memory, or read up on the past to help you gain a better understanding. So, fast forward another month after the previously mentioned episode and hear it all starting again in the plumbing in my house the night before my open house!!! Yikes! I definitely called my plumber, Pete (yes, we were on a first-name basis by now), who instructed me to call the city because my problem wouldn't be happening this soon after the last incident. So, I called the city, and out they came to perform their own clean-out of the system. Problem solved.
... or so I thought. Fast forward three more months. And picture this: I am painting furniture in my living room late at night while doing some laundry. The toilets begin to make this strange noise (imagine blowing bubbles in your drink with a straw), and then, it happens - everything stops and you hear that terrible sound of water (among other things) come UP into your bathtub. Oh yes, lovely. It is now 11:30 at night. I can't call Pete at 11:30 at night!?!? Nope, I sure can't, so I call my mom and I go spend the night at their house! Haha. I wait and call Pete the next day and he comes out to work his magic. This time, I know the problem is not solved, so I decide to try to be smart and use my home warranty. Unfortunately, it didn't work out quite the way I had planned, but I DO now have properly functioning plumbing and a completely torn up front yard. As I mentioned in my last post, they were quite intriguing as they dug a hole that they could jump in and they disappeared! Ridiculous. Remember how I said I really wanted pictures, but I didn't want them to think I belonged in the loony bin? Well, as my luck would have it, they had to go to Home Depot for a part, so what did I do? I definitely grabbed my camera and went out to the hole for pictures!!! Get ready...
Here is the tractor they used to dig the gargantuan hole...

In the very center of the picture, you can see the infamous hole.

And here it is!!! The brownish pipe that is sticking out in the top of the hole is the city tap. The pipe that is strewn in the middle of the hole is my old pipe... more on that to come below...

Here is where you can see where my old pipe belonged and ran from my clean-out to the city tap.

So onto that old pipe... apparently, when a previous owner of my house had the sewer pipes replaced, their plumber failed to finish the job. They replaced the pipe from the house to the clean-out, but the house owner is responsible for everything up to the city tap. So, there was a 4 foot section that had old pipe that "never should have been put in the ground" according to my second plumber (whose name I never got). The pipe that you see strewn in the hole was basically rotten and had no bottom. Basically, nothing could make it through the pipe because it wasn't 'smooth' on the inside. My plumber could stick his shovel THROUGH the pipe - that's how rotten it was!! So yes, they replaced it, and hopefully, I will have no more problems for a very long time. I've already put it to the test... I did two loads of laundry in one day. And four people took a shower within an hour or so time span, and NO backing up! So, thank you plumbers, for fixing my problem and for always being there. I've never known how important you are to the human race, but if anyone is ever putting you or your profession down, know that you will always have a supporter in me. I will always be grateful for properly functioning plumbing system. And, I'm fairly certain my bank account will be grateful that you finally fixed the problem once and for all! And one more grateful comment... my little brother/lawn service is grateful for the large amount of dirt you left in the yard covered with hay that now prevents him from being able to mow the lawn in this ridiculously hot weather. Clearly, I am grateful for plumbers tonight... who knew?!

MIA

Sorry, I've been somewhat MIA over the last month. A lot has happened and is continuing to happen as I type!
As I mentioned before, I went to NYC with some girls from work - Lindsay, Lydia, Elizabeth, and Kathleen. We had a blast! It was a whirlwind trip and we did almost all the tourist things in the short time we were there. We shopped (or dreamed of shopping) on 5th Avenue, went to the Statue of Liberty, tried to go up in the Empire State Building, saw Mamma Mia!, went to Central Park, ate at Serendipity, and went to Little Italy for pizza! It really was a fun and somewhat cheap trip. I am grateful for their friendship and the fact that we can have fun outside of work.
I got home from New York on a Thursday night and then rode with the fam to Mississippi for a wedding. My cousin, Collin, got married in Bay St. Louis. Onni, Grace, and Murphy were able to come, as well as my grandparents, aunt and uncle, cousins Russ, Michele, and Keegan. We went to the Rehearsal Dinner on Friday night (where we got eaten alive by bugs). The coolest thing was that it was at a house that was across the street from the beach, but the house survived Hurricane Katrina! We parked where other houses had been, and this one made it because those houses basically got pushed up against it and created a dam for the water. Incredible! It was so sad to see the different areas where houses and buildings had once been, but were very clearly destroyed by Katrina. I was there a few years ago on a mission trip, and while things haven't changed much, they have at least gotten rid of the debris. I feel like that is a huge step - yes, I realize they still have a long ways to go. It was kinda eerie... there were piers that had everything but the boards that you walk on, others had missing sections, and some just had the main posts. The 'house' I remember the most was one that had the foundation, the 'stilts', and the spiral staircase that obviously led to what was once the house. So sad. Saturday morning we spent some time on the beach. Murphy was hilarious in the water - he will definitely be a lot of fun in Sarasota. The wedding was Saturday afternoon and lasted well into the evening. The bride was beautiful and it was really a fun reception. We went to a brunch honoring Collin and Melissa Sunday morning before heading back home. It was nice to spend time with the fam.
Since then, I have been home just working around my house. I started working on my chest, and am almost finished!! I put like 5 coats of paint on it, sanding in between each one, and I have now put polyurethane on it. I will sand it one last time, and then my dad has to fix the bottom of it so it will sit level. Then, it will go in my room and I'll be FINISHED with that. I painted my hallway last week - will post pictures later. It is blue - two lighter versions of the blue from the living room (darker of the two on bottom, lighter on top). Very glad that is done. I will hang my last pictures, then clean the huge mess I have made from these projects. Then, for now, the house projects will be done for a while. Speaking of house projects... remember my plumbing problems?? Well, they came back. So, currently, there is a crew digging up my front yard to replace some pipes - at least, I think that's what they'll be doing. I'm not even sure anymore. I DO know that there is a tractor and huge pile of dirt in my yard, and I so badly want to go out and take a picture. I really want to take a picture of the fact that one of them is IN the hole but I can't even see him - that's how deep they're having to dig! But I'm pretty sure these guys would think I'm nuts, so I will resist the urge.
So, I've been somewhat productive this summer and had lots of fun, so I'm satisfied. And it's not even over yet! I will try to be better about updating over the next couple of weeks before I head to the beach. But I can make no promises. Hope all of you are having a great summer so far!

Sweet Summertime

Like I said in my last post, it is so hard for me to believe how quickly the time has passed this year. However, please don't mistake that unbelief for ungratefulness - I LOVE summer!!! Haha. And it promises to be a busy one... and I will tell you that I would have it no other way! There are weddings, guard practices, summer Kindergarten work (for some extra moolah), a trip to NYC, almost two weeks at the beach, a weekend with my girls at Rebecca's wedding, and some summer house projects! I am just so excited. I had intended to get started right away on things this weekend, but I just haven't found the motivation. I have fully enjoyed this long, relaxing weekend in every way imaginable. I did absolutely nothing on Saturday, or Sunday, and I don't think today looks to be more eventful than the last two days. I am okay with that! I will say that in between watching some TV (which I hardly ever do), feeding my neighbor's dogs, reading, napping, and "facebooking", I have done some productive things.

I received my Pampered Chef stuff last week, and I finally had the chance to open the boxes and sort the orders! WOW, I got a lot of awesome stuff! I washed everything last night before going to my Mom and Dad's for dinner, and found a place for everything this morning. I even cleaned up my mail piles - which get pretty bad. I've found all the things that have worked their way to my house that really belong at school and put them in one place so I can return them tomorrow. And really, that's about it. I am planning on organizing my craft room and dragging out my scrapbook stuff today. I'd like to sort out my pictures and figure out which pictures I need printed and that kind of thing. I am pretty pumped about getting started on all of that again. But I sure have a lot of work to do to catch up!

And with that, I am going to get to work. Sorry this was such a boring post, but I felt like I owed a post, and that's about all I've got right now... although I did just think of something. After I've been productive, I'll post again... enjoy your Memorial Day!!!