Wii Wii Wii... oh yah, and Happy 23rd Birthday, Josh!

It has been a long time since I have had the pleasure of blogging. It is 7:30am on the 23rd and I have been up for about half an hour. It is my Holiday Break and I can't even sleep in. Oh well!

Time has really flown by since my last post. There has been lots of shopping, baking and holiday fun. The day of my last post, Tyler came home with a Wii and that has been our lives since. That gaming system is as addicting as I could imagine. It is crazy, but so much fun. It has been great!

In early December, I had a chance to take a class from Ali Edwards over at the Scrapping Bee in Springfield, which just happened to be right after the huge ice storm they had. So that was an interesting trip. I will have to post a picture of the finished project when I get home.

We are at the in-laws for a few days gearing up to head down to TN the day after Christmas. I am excited but more nervous than usual. Too much family stuff has happened in the last visit to make this one.. I dunno, it's weird. I just want to belnd in to the background when I am down there and not be made such a big deal of.

After the holidays, we begin the journey to our new home. We have two houses we are interested in and can't wait to see the inside. I can't believe the day is here and we can look for a house.... our home!

Happy 1/4 Century Birthday to me!

Here I sit, newly aged to 25 years. My husband is getting a thorough workout on his new Nintendo Wii and I am enjoying a nice view of snow falling. From the time I can remember, I cannot think of it snowing on my Birthday once. I was so happy when I saw it start to fall. What a way to start the day!? My birthday has been rather nice this year.

The festivities all started on Thursday when Tyler had flowers waiting for me when I got home. With my big day so close to Thanksgiving, I never really get to spend much time with my flowers when we travel, so he got them for me early this year. They are beautiful Stargazer Lilies with pink daisies and roses. He even arranged them himself, bow and all :) They are beautiful and more and more are blooming each day. He also had my presents wrapped and ready to go, which I thought was cruel and unusual punishment to be able to see them, but not open them.

Friday kind of snuck up on me. I was ready for the week to be done. The kiddos are already in holiday mode, so it was all for the best that the week was coming to an end. The morning pretty much flew by. 5th Hour was coming to an end and when I dismissed the class, I had a visitor. It was one of my co-workers who "needed computer help". Supposedly, her screen had gone blank when she was entering grades and she didn't know what to do. Now this is a woman who I know can handle computer problems, but this was a major one. So I went down to her room and opened the door and there were my co-workers from my grade who were giving me a Surprise Birthday Lunch. It was so nice. They brought in fruit, chips and salsa, Italian Beef, Brownies and my Quarter Century Cake complete with candles. It was such an unexpected surprise. I have never really had that before for a birthday. And then the kids got wind that it was my birthday and they were singing fools for the rest of the day.

Friday night came and we went to see Stranger than Fiction with Will Farrell. My goodness, that movie was funny, but sad as well. It was a nice change of pace for Mr. Elf.

Saturday, I slept in only to have Tyler tell me that I needed to start the day :) So we got ready and went to Olive Garden for soup, salad and breadsticks. The wait was that of a Christmas weekend, but we snagged a table in the little bistro area and had a nice Lunch. Then we went out and got some wine and appetizers for later. The shrimp we bought were huge and ridiculously priced, but so worth it.

Josh and Audra came over and the boys watched the Ohio State/Michigan game while we went out shopping for a bit. I found a couple pairs of pants that I wanted and then we came back to get ready for dinner. We had 8:00 dinner reservations at SilverCreek. SilverCreek is a beautiful restaurant and the food was great! After we changed into some comfortable clothes, we headed out to Legends Bar and Grill on campus. We knew it wouldn't be too busy and it wasn't. The drinks were good, so all was ok :)

So I feel like I have written a novel already.... more to come later :)

The Crazy Lady

How fitting this picture is... it even looks like me in ways. What can I say? I am the Crazy Lady. Truly. Crazy. I may look ordinary on the outside, but my angry wrinkle says otherwise.

My kids can sense it. They know the crazy lady look. They know when they have gone too far.... they know me all too well. I get a look in my eye and I tend to stare down each little darling one by one. And then slowly, the crazy lady regains some sanity in the room. It happens each year; some years earlier or later than others. This year it is early. Chocolate and Mountain Dew are the remedies of choice. And counseling is looking nice. But what can they do with a truly crazy lady? Once you go crazy, there is no going back. Good luck kiddies :)

But seriously, today was nuts. A true Monday for sure. We had a super relaxing weekend of not doing much of anything. I made lava cake for desert. Tyler made homemade bread. It was nice. We have a half day Wednesday, so I am looking forward to that. Hopefully this week will go by nicely and then I celebrate this weekend and then next week is the Ultimate Food Week :) Yummy!

End of two Seasons... beginning of another...

It is that time of year again... the time of year where we do not know if we will see the ever inspiring Chief again. NCAA says he is hostile. We see him as a sign of loyalty. Tyler and I have closed out another season, well two actually. We were very lucky to have gone to Game 4 of the World Series. It was a spectacular night (cold as can be), but we had a great time. And then today, in 30 degree weather, we watched the Illini lose another football game. This year we got Season tickets for football and had a good time, even though they lost miserably most of the time.

Christmas season is nearing once again. I have the ever faithful list of maybe gifts ready in hand. Trying to shop for so many can be a challenge, but I take it on and try to do a nice job with it. We were in TN for Thanksgiving and IL for Christmas, so I should have some good shopping opportunities.

Also, the first weekend of December, I am taking an album class from Miss Ali Edwards herself! I am taking her Perspectives class. I see it as being a time for reflection before I move into the next stage of my life. I turn 25 in a week and we are buying a house in the Spring, so I see this as good of a time as any to reflect back on where I came from and where I am going. I am completely psyched about meeting this creative force. I need to really sit down and work on the "homework" before I get too busy to do a nice job on it before the class.

That same day we are going to a showing of "It's a Wonderful Life" at the local theatre in town. We are taking Tyler's parents with us. They started a tradition decades ago about watching this movie for the holidays, and we thought it would be nice to see it on the big screen.

Creativity is calling, so I am heading out. Thanks for reading... whoever you are :)

-L

Creating

This week has been a heck of a time. The honeymoon is over with the kiddos. They are RESTLESS! Let the 3 ring circus begin :) I seem to slowly be etting back to myself. I actually created this weekend. All of my stuff is out and I plan to do as much as I can when I want to. I don't want it to feel forced. Here are the latest in the collection:

I am having fun with these halloween pictures. Last weekend I was able to decorate and I had a blast. I am very much in the mood for Fall. School just gets me like that. Speaking of which, school pics are on Tuesday and I have no idea what to wear... great! Looks like I have some work to do. Take care!

In a rut...

It seems that I am in a rut. I get up, take a shower, eat cereal, do my hair, get dressed, and go to work. I become Mother Hen to over 150 kiddos each day. I give them my all, grade papers, go to meetings, counsel and love and then I go home. Sometimes I feel so bad for not being able to give Tyler more. Sometimes I am so tired, I have nothing more to give. This makes me worry.

What will it be like with a little one at home? Will I have anything left to give? I worry.

This year is my third year teaching at the school I have grown to love. I am known by all the students and can't go down the hall without being recognized or loved on. I love that. I need that. My kiddos have really become my life. They are so special to me. I care about how they feel and what they need. But sometimes I wonder if I give too much. I have never been this busy so frequently before. I am in a rut.

I miss making my Layouts. I don't have the energy to drag out all of my supplies. I miss that. I need to do it. I need to create. So tomorrow, after midterms go out, I am going to create. I don't know what pages I will do, but I need a release. I need to let go and be myself.

Tyler is making macaroni and cheese from scratch and I am melting into my couch. My very good friend turns 25 today and I only can wish her the best. Lord knows how I will be in 2 months when mine comes around. House hunting is starting to slowly make its way into our everyday lives. Realtors are being iffy. We will see how that goes. Thanks for reading, if you are out there. I needed this :)

Labor Day Weekend

This past weekend has been so nice. We have been busy from the beginning of our break, but it has been a good time. Friday night, we decided to play some tennis with Josh and Audra. After warming up, I did alright. My knee held in for about an hour or so and then started to act up. So, all in all, it was a successful attempt. Then we all headed out to Steak 'n Shake for dinner and on to Walmart for some serious tailgating shopping. We picked up burgers, buns, brats, hotdogs, potato salad, deserts, beer, and lots of ice. Your typical plunder for a great day of tailgating. This year Tyler decided to get season tickets to Illini Football, so hopefully we will get out moneys worth.

Saturday morning we packed up the Jeep and headed out to the stadium. We got there a little bit before Noon and settled in at a beautiful spot that was shady and had plenty of room. Josh, Audra and the crew started showing up around 1 and we drank, grilled and goofed around until the 6pm kick off time. It could not have been a nicer day, company or weather-wise. The game turned out great, U of I crushed EIU (sorry Josh) and our seats were in the first row on the aisle, so all held up to be true.

Sunday we tried our best to get up early and be ready for the Arthur Cheese Festival down south. We made it up and got going relatively early for having such a long day before and headed down. There were more types of cheese than you could imagine: cranberry, blueberry, swiss, salami, all types... We had a nice time visiting with Tyler's parents and ended up shopping in Tuscola at the Outlet Center. We then came back to Urbana and grilled out with Josh and Audra to use up some of the leftovers and went to a movie called, Little Miss Sunshine.
This movie about killed us. We were cracking up so much at how funny/tragic something could be at the same time. Many times we didn't know if we should be laughing or not because it was such a tragedy, but it was just too much. I won't give away any spoilers, but it was worth the money to go. After we checked out the downtown scene, we headed to a local hangout and ended the night playing cards at the apartment.

Today was a little slow getting going, but it has been so beautiful out and just nice to not have anything scheduled. I just love weekends like this. Hope yours is nice as well. Bye for now!

Summer coming to a close

I can feel it down deep in the pit of my stomach. My summer is slipping away. Where did it go? Under the couch? Behind the tree? Nope. Into the wind, I say. It flew right on by. So yes, it is that time of year again. Time when I am sick of trying to look decent in my swimsuit and ready for the warm comfort of my sweaters and hoodies. Time for buying out the penny and ten cent sale items at Staples and Office Depot. Time for my trunk to stop looking like a large office supply store and for the goodies to go in their right places. Time for updating the school website with start dates, times and lunch menus. Time to start thinking of what to wear on the first day of school, even more important the Open House for the new little ones that night. It is that time again. School is here again.

What a pain in the KNEE!

Today was my appointment with my orthopedic surgeon. Too bad I won't be having his services any time soon. That's right. Today I found out I have significant wear and tear of the knee cap. It will hurt me off and on for the rest of my life. An option is major knee surgery with all the bells and whistles. He didn't offer the surgery. He told me he couldn't guarantee that the surgery would make it better.

I am a complete mess. I feel like I have been given a life sentence. My knee won't get worse; it won't heal; it won't develop arthritis. It will just hurt like the dickens several times a year or month or day. I am now going to start an exercise program to strengthen my legs and get into the best shape I can to take pressure off as much as possible. This just isn't what I needed.

Second opinion you may ask... Well I thought about that until I remembered I was with the Head Team Physician for the University of Illinois... I think he has his credentials in order. Enough blabbering from me. Any happy thoughts appreciated. Thanks!

Goals and Intentions

Today is a post on goals. As a teacher, I have goals each day, and it is easy to point out goals in the classroom. But as I sit here, I realize that I have many goals in my personal life as well. I try to be a pretty outgoing person and I think that is what helps me to accomplish my goals.

Goals I have accomplished:

1. Marry my bestfriend. complete (Good thing my bestfriend happened to be a guy :), and a wonderful one at that.) - This goal seems to be a simple one, but knowing this world and how people change and grow apart I consider myself to be very lucky in life to be married to my husband. We were fortunate to meet young in life and grow together instead of apart.
2. Do something extreme. complete - On July 22nd of this year I took the plunge. I flew out of a plane and went skydiving. I had this surreal calm about it. My husband was freaking out, my mom was beside herself, but I did it (with little sister at my side) and it was great. I am so proud of myself because I conquered my fear of flight and not many people know that about me. I secretly want to vomit when on a plane during take off and landing... well this time I canceled out the landing part and dealt with the take off :)
3. Be happy. complete and ongoing - This is actually a major feat in my life. I have dealt with depression from an early age and I really seem to have it together lately. Junior High was not kind to this gal, but I have used my experiences to make me stronger and better for the wear.
   
4. Become a teacher. complete - I teach at a wonderful Junior High in Illinois and I have a blast. I get to entertain and educate all day long. 12 year olds are so fun to be around. They are growing at an incredible rate and it is wonderful to be a part of their becoming young adults. I don't think I could give this up.
5. Make a difference. Hopefully each day - With my background, I made it a point to be in a profession that could help young people. After careful thought, I knew being a public school teacher was right for me. I promise each year to be there for each student. Someone to talk to for any child in need. It melts my heart each student smiles after a conversation, whether it be a light-hearted chat or a deep conversation. I love being there for our young people.

Goals to be completed:

1. Become a homeowner - Spring 2007 ! ! !
2. Obtain my Masters degree - starting the program next summer
3. Become a mother - Even though I feel like I have about 170 kids each year to mother, I am awaiting the say to have my own. My husband will be a wonderful father and I can't wait to be a part of that.
4. Visit a volcanic island - big stuff for an Earth Science teacher!
5. Life life to the fullest - I want to live life for what it is. I don't want to wish for tomorrow. I want to make the most of today. Each day is something new and anyone can try to make the best of it.

Thanks so much for reading my short novel. We had a great mini vacation this past weekend with the inlaws. Lots of baseball, outdoors and fun. Here are some pics from the weekend. Have a good one!

CHA has come and gone....

Well another CHA convention has come and gone and the new products are moving out. The good little angel in me says that I really don't need to buy anything new, but the bad little shopper in me says to buy as much as I can before Tyler notices. SO what is new at CHA you ask? These:

Wall Text by Making Memories: photo compliments of Ali Edwards

More cute chipboard letters from Heidi Swapp: photo from lifetimemoments.com

DCWV chipboard stacks! Brilliant!!! : photo from www.photoexpressfotosource.ca

And these are only a few of my favorites. I can't wait to get my hands on some of the new fabulous products coming this way. Yummy!! :)

Pictures.... Pictures!

Well here they are. My sweetie scanned the pictures in so I could show you all. I am still in shock that I actually jumped out of a plane. My ankle is healing nicely. The swelling is down and I can walk without pain, so it is all good. Thanks for looking!

Picture 1 is of the jump.
Picture 2 is the ride to Medical :)
See the other photos here

What a Weekend!

Well this weekend, I took the plunge. I decided to make my first skydive jump at the World FreeFall Convention in Rantoul, IL. And without fail, I got hurt. Now this is in no way going against my instructor, Kip, but landing at the speed we did, I felt the need to put my feet down instead of landing on my bottom. And then it happened, I landed on my ankle instead of on my feet. Now knowing my knee situation, you can imagine that my family thought that I blew my knee out, but I didn't. Just a bad sprain. No biggie!!

In other words, we had a blast. Courtney and I were the first tandem jumpers of the convention and it truely was the experience of a lifetime. It was euphoric falling through the air at 120mph, and CRAZY! I was very calm through the jump. It didn't even feel like I was falling. Very nice feeling!

The family had a good time this weekend. Good food and good company. Good times!

The picture is of Bergie, my videographer. More pics to come soon.

One more to go...

For my parent's anniversary, the big 25, I gave to them a family scrapbook. My mom and I went to pick out the papers she liked and I will put it all together. Well today, it begins! I have been trying to get Tyler and my book updated and it is time! I have one LO left of Josh, Audra and Courtney's graduation and then I am good to go on the Big Book(s). Here are some more fall and then a Spring LO. Hope you see this, Mom.

Rest and Relaxation

Despite my latest afflication (I hate my knee), I have been turning out pages left and right. Here is the last in my Zoo series, followed by a day at the pumpkin patch. This past weekend was so nice and relaxing... too bad it was forced due to said knee, but I am ok with that. I go to the ortho on Wednesday to see what is up. And hopefully the Doc won't ban me from jumping out of a plane with my sister. Anyway.. enjoy the pics!

New Layouts and News

Today I have scrap fever. I came back from Summer School teaching and just felt great about my pictures. I bought some new Basic Grey not too long ago and really tried to use as much patterned paper together as I could. I am starting to feel very comfortable with it. And I love my ZOO pictures. It was so much fun. It is hard to believe it was almost two years ago. And now I just found out that we are going to an exotic animal refuge this coming weekend, so I am keyed up about that.

This past weekend we were down South and the girls had their birthday party. We got them DVDs and a really cool dinosaur pop-up book and a teacher Barbie. Just had to do that. Tonight is fondue night with a killer cheese recipe and great company (Josh and Audra ... love those kids!)

Tomorrow night is Bud T-shirt night at Busch and best believe we will be there with bells on. Have a wonderful 4th of July Weekend. We both have to work Monday, so we are going to take a trip down to TN next week to see my Dad for his 50th... hehehe

Take Care!
Go Cards!!!

Happy Father's Day!

First and foremost, Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there. Today has been a relaxing day. We called our Dads with well wishes and made dinner and even dessert! I love my husband's stuffed ricotta shells. YUMMY!!! Today I worked a lot on a new layout of my 2 neices. They are so cute.

Next weekend is the girls' birthday party. We are so excited to see those little munchkins. I can't believe they are 2 and 5 already. Not too much is going on otherwise. Have a great night.

Hot Sun in the Summer Time

Well today was my first day out in the sun since school has been out. I believe I have now been given the name Mater. For those of you who have not met this crazy character from the movie CARS, get out there and see it. I think this is my favorite Pixar movie yet.Tyler and I went up to Chicago right before our anniversary to stay and enjoy the good food and sight-seeing. We went to see Cars one night and loved it. Mater introduces himself and his line is " My name is Mater, like Ta-Mater without the Ta" ..... LOVE IT!

We also got to see the new exhibit at the Field Museum, King Tut. Oh my goodness, that exhibit is out of this world. It is so surreal to see items from history that are so old! We ate at the Melting Pot and had such a great time. It had been a long time since we had been able to get away with just the two of us and we made the most out of it!


To get back to Mater...today we went out to the pool and I got fried. My whole body is just smoking right now. Steam is coming off of me. It is going to be one of those nights. Aloe, here I come. I have also been a busy, busy gal in the world of Scrap. I am trying to get caught up on my albums so I can start on my parent's album. All in good time. Here are my latest triumphs. Enjoy!

So I am not so good at this blogging thing...

Well today is the first afternoon of my summer where I have not had plans. So what do I do?
I sit at my computer and Pea. (www.twopeasinabucket.com)
It has to be my very favorite thing to do. Love the inspiration. Love the chatting. So it is all good. Anyways, not quite sure what else to say. Here is my latest layout. Enjoy!

My new favorite page!

I had a blast last night playing with my new stamps and came up with a new Layout that I really am loving right now. I am so happy with the result. It calms my worries that I couldn't scrap anything that had to do with boys :) I also just sent the last of our First year pictures into Walgreen's to be printed. One year down, one to go.... and then on to my parent's Family Album. Take care!

Procrastination

Procrastination should be my middle name. I procrastinate for anything and everything. I wait for the very last minute to do just about anything. In my classroom, I procrastinate grading papers, printing grades, making updates, putting up bulletin boards... you name it, I wait to do it. But the thing is.... sometimes the longer I wait the better it turns out. I am a master procrastinator. I procrastinate at least one thing each day, if not a dozen things. I really can't figure out why I feel the need, but it is my thing. I have always been a procrastinator. I don't think it really bugs my family too much, but sometimes it works against me because my husband is a master procrastinator as well. At least we can't give each other too much grief about it! :)

Collections

This is my first time doing a blog challenge. Today's topic is collections. This took a bit of time to figure out what I actually collect and it came to me. I collect RIBBON. I love ribbon. All of the beautiful colors and textures. Grosgrain, shear, satin..... checkered, polka dots, stripes and all. Ribbon makes me happy. I have been collecting ribbon for just over a year, when I started scrapbooking. I saw all of the great layouts in the different galleries and knew I had to get into the ribbon craze. My ribbon is kept in photo boxes, multiple boxes, and is always at an arm's length. I know this might not a common collection, but it allows me to have so much color in one place. There are so many places to get ribbon. I shop at Michael's, JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby, and my LSS. Ribbon is a good thing. :)

A weekend of babies

This weekend was full of babies. Friday night, I had a Ladies Night with the girls at work. It was inevitable that babies would be high on the list of topics. I tried to dodge the questions: When? When? and When? Truth be known, I have no clue when. I don't want to bring a baby into an apartment that we are quickly outgrowing. Another truth: I am terrified of getting pregnant. It stems from my Mom's troubles. And I will just have to get over that in the future. I have time. So Friday night was speckled with the baby questions and I survived.

Saturday was my cousin's baby shower. She received so many cute items. My mom was beside herself with excitement of what it would be like if I were pregnant. I understand her excitement, I just want it to tone down for awhile until we are pregnant. For the mom to be, I made a "Baby Boy" paint can with an incredibly soft blue blanket and a little rubber ducky. I really liked how this turned out. I have so much fun altering items and giving them as gifts. It is such a stress relief. But anyhow, the weekend was nice. After the shower we went to visit my grandpa and it was tough. It is hard to see a new life getting ready to begin and then seeing an older life seeming to slip away. It brought back a lot of memories, good and bad. We then went back to my gradparent's house for supper. Grandma's noodles would save any day. It was nice to see my family. I hadn't seen them since Christmas. They headed back to Tennessee and we all headed back home. We made an impromptu stop at Audra's and went for icecream that evening. It was a late drive home, but a fulfilling day. Now for another week of school. Thank goodness testing is done.