Holy Moly Macaroli

Is it really almost time for my two week Christmas break? Seriously- we just had people here for Memorial Day weekend, didn't we? Man, when I got home from Thanksgiving I thought that four weeks would go slow cause I didn't have hardly any weekend plans. But, I was wrong and here I am trying to organize all the stuff I need to get done before Friday when I leave. Craziness. Actually it's a little bit sad. I'm excited to go home for that long of time but I do plan on missing people down here. I'm kind of fond of them.
So, last Sunday was our Christmas program. Stuff like that down here just makes me laugh. Just cause it does. For one thing, us Sunday School teachers stand up front and sing with the kids. For another thing, well, I don't know. But stuff down here just makes me laugh. After church we had our S.S. Christmas party. Which consisted of eating pizza and playing one game. Sunday afternoon/evening we went to sing to Don who is from church and had a stroke and is in the home. And you know how in the Gospel Hymns they have the German version of Silent Night and everybody always jokes about how we should sing that after the English version but nobody ever does? Yeah. We didn't joke. We did. And I laughed the whole way through.
Tomorrow night we're going caroling which is always another interesting time. Like last week when we went. We pulled up to the people's house and Jessica asked me if I had ever been there. She said "check out the ceiling. It's very festive." First let me explain redneck decorating. If there is something they want to hang on the wall they just find any available space that they can and tack it up. They don't take stuff down they just keep adding. Who knows how old some of that stuff was. And of course nothing matches. Also might I add they had three of those singing Big Mouth Billy Bass fish mounted right in a row. One was a Christmas fish and one's tail was barely hanging on. And there's no room for any sort of a tree, and most of the wall space was taken, so all the Christmas ornaments were tacked up, hanging from the ceiling. It was quite a lovely sight. But there was a nice TV. Which played the entire time we sang of course.
So that's the latest in Athens. Now I gotta go do all that stuff that needs to get done before Friday. C-y'all.

Heat Wave

I just want to let all you northerners know that while you are dealing with ice and snow storms, it's been in the mid 70's for the past three days here in Dixieland. We turned the air on at the preschool. Just thought you'd be interested to hear that.

Pride Cometh Before the Fall

Which I realize. But until the fall comes, I want to brag because I just ran 16 minutes straight on the treadmill. Over a mile. I've never ran an entire mile in my life as far as I know. Now, it wasn't the fastest paced mile ever run (4.6 mph to be exact), but I did it. I was going to just going to alternate running and walking but when I started running, I just kinda kept going. And by the time I was ready to die I only had a few minutes left so I pushed myself a little harder than normal. Good thing tomorrow's Wednesday and I won't be visiting the gym. I probably won't be able to walk right.
But the real reason I wanted to blog is a new funny story. Last week one of my kids looked at me and said "Mith Thawah, You look handthumb." She has a little bit of a lisp. I wasn't quite sure if it was a compliment or not. I think it was. We'll just assume it was.
In other news, does anyone have advice on how to gain the respect of a kid who's a huge brat but you love more than life? Let me know if you do. Because he respects Melissa and Louise just fine but no matter what I do I just can't get there and I feel like I'm trying my best. It's frustrating. And occasionally brings me to tears. But enough of that.
I've got a whole list of stuff to do on the computer before my time is up so I gotta go. Bye!

Life Goes On

I just couldn't think of a title because I don't really know what I'm going to blog about and so that's what I came up with. Hmmm..... last Saturday night was our Christmas party/potluck for church. I got a casserole dish cover and some lotion in the grab. And I was actually excited about it. I felt really old and momish but not too long ago I was thinking that a casserole dish cover could really come in handy and was wondering where I could get my hands on one. But now I don't have to worry about it! And I made mixed vegetables with buttered bread crumbs which I had never made before and the final product was a dish with about two inches of veggies with three inches of breadcrumbs. So the joke of the night was that Sarah made some really good crumbs with vegetables.
Tonight I'm babysitting for Ryan and Hope's kids while they go Christmas shopping. I can't say I'm too terribly excited about it but at least the kids are good and I don't really know what else I would do anyways. Except maybe go shopping myself. I went last night and tried to get some done but it was a very unsuccessful trip. Probably because I have in my head exactly what I want to get for each person in a certain price range and it makes it hard to find stuff.
Tomorrow afternoon we're having a benefit singing for some people from church. I've never met them but I'll go to the singing. I guess they're both really sick and have been bedridden for years which is why I've never met them.
Also last Sunday we put in a new minister. Kerwin was about the only option so nobody was too shocked when they said his name. Funny story, though. When the ballots were passed out, one of the old guys was sitting behind Kerwin and leaned forward to ask him "How do you spell your name?" Kerwin didn't tell him so he asked "Well then will you write it down for me?" Kerwin didn't really want to vote for himself so Don just wrote a big "K" on his ballot.
Well I have about 15 minutes before I need to leave for TN and I'm really bored. But I've run out of things to go on and on about so...................... the end.

The Greatest Show on Earth

Last night I went to the circus with Ryan and Hope and their kids. I was definitely a tag along but nobody else seemed to excited about going. I don't know why. The circus is awesome! I'm thinking about changing my life's goal of being a world class gymnast in the Olympics to being one in the circus. The only downfall there would be all the travelling. I haven't decided yet what I want to do. (If you've never heard, whenever someone asks me my dream job I always tell them a world class gymnast.) It's a good thing they use safety nets because the trapeze artists fell three different times. They get so stinkin' high it tickles my tummy just watching them.
Tonight we have our Christmas potluck for church. I still haven't decided what to take for food. I was in a mood to try making my mom's rolls and called her to get the recipe and to see if she thought I could do it. But after finding out I don't even have a rolling pin she just laughed at me. So the roll making experience will be put on hold for now.
Yesterday my Deving puked outside on the playground. He wasn't sick, but he got grass in his mouth and the tiniest little thing makes him puke. He has worse gag reflexes than I do. But anyways, I was trying to be all tough and clean some of it up because it was right by the swings and there was a lot of it and someone was bound to step in it. So here's me, the sympathy puker, being all courageous. I went inside and came back out armed with latex gloves and half a roll of paper towels thinking I was doing pretty good. But then there's Miss Louise who I found out is a lot smarter than me. Because by the time I got back out she was dumping a shovelfull of sand all over it. So much for being heroic.
Well I guess that's all for now. C-ya!

JUGS etc.

Well I'm sitting here at my parents waiting for Aeschleman Christmas to start. I'm having a blast being up here for more than a day and a half. Wednesday I drove up and it rained hard most of the way. A very dreary drive but I had an audio book that lasted almost the whole way so it made it not quite so drab. Wednesday night was JUGS. For those of you poor, uninformed souls out there, JUGS is Just Us Girls Shopping. All the nieces on the Aeschleman side go out with my aunt Bev during the Christmas season. We go out to eat and then do a little shopping. We used to do a lot more shopping but this year it consisted of a quick trip to Wal-Mart because two of the girls needed to buy diapers for their kids. Makes you realize how much has changed over the years. But as usual it was so much fun. We all just relax and goof off for the night and enjoy each others company. Thursday after church we went to Nate and Jamie's and stayed until about ten at night. Her family is down for the weekend so we were able to be with them all day. Friday I did a whole lot of nothing until we had Hodel's at Ed and Boni's. After everyone else left, I stayed until about 12:30 at night and we just sat and talked at the kitchen table. It was a blessing for me at least. They were probably really ready to see me go. Today me and Mandy met Bekah and Julia at Panera for lunch and I just got home from there. Lots of fun it was. Now I'm waiting for Aeschleman's to start. My aunt and uncle and two cousins are home from Phoenix and they always liven things up even more than usual so it will be an exciting time for all, I'm sure. Tomorrow I head back right after church. I can't say I'm terribly excited about it but I'll be okay. So until whenever I happen to blog again, ta ta!

It's been one of those days for quite a few days now...

Well actually it really hasn't been too bad but I heard that line in a song awhile back and wanted to use it. Although today was kind of one of those days. I just have a quick example of why. Well, not really what made it a crazy day, just the effects of the crazy day. I went to Blockbuster because eating a Pizza Place pizza that my mom brought me while watching "Elf" just really sounded like a good idea for tonight. And I went to swipe my card and it wasn't doing anything and I couldn't figure out why. The guy asked me if it was credit or debit and I clarified that it was debit and the tried swiping again. Then I looked closer and realized I was swiping my library card. It made for a red face and a good laugh. But now my pizza is warming up in the oven (thanks mom!) and I am ready to begin my night. Then I have a whole bunch of stuff to do before I leave for Thanksgiving and hopefully sometime between tonight and tomorrow all day I can be a little bit productive. Have a good weekend!

Gab yelled at me

She said I needed to post again. She's right. I hate it when other people are right. Cause it usually means I'm wrong. And I like to be right. But aside from being wrong, the rest of the weekend was pretty good. I got a little emotional at the wedding on Sunday. And Saturday Caleb threw me for a loop when he called me. He never calls me. I don't even have his number in my phone. But he called and wondered if I was going to be getting to Queenwood anytime soon because he was there with his fiancee. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?! After doing process of elimination I decided it had to be Bethany. So I guess I was right for something anyways. I'm really very happy for them. And they really make a cute couple but I wanted to live with Bethany if I ever end up back at the apartment. But.... plans change. But I decided we're roommates at heart just because of the Queenwood connection. Saturday during the day was the YG choir sing. It was okay. It would have been a lot better if I hadn't been hacking and sniffing and sneezing all over the place. Monday morning I visited Jacob's Ladder. None of the kids remembered me cause I haven't been there since March. Except for my little Lexi Lou. She was my favorite. She remembered me. Then I went to Doc's of course. Actually, the goal was Panera but everyone had to work. And since everyone except Nate works in Roanoke, it worked out well. Then I drove home. It was great to not have to rush out of the reception and drive home Sunday night. I hate doing that. I'm so glad I took a personal day. It was just so...... personal. But it rained almost all the way through Illinois and by the time it stopped it was dark. But rain is good. We need rain. So I won't complain. And that's all I have. I hope this is good enough for Gabby.

I got voted homecoming queen!

Okay so not really. But I did get a care package from Meika via Marsha Rocke. It may have been the most exciting part of the weekend. Mom and Dad almost didn't come cause mom was feeling all puky and stuff. But they decided to make the trip and I'm glad. I was excited for them to be here again cause it had been since fourth of July. Friday night we went to a Japanese steakhouse where they cook in front of you. I go to those when someone else is paying. But really though. If you ever have the chance, go. They're really cool. Saturday was good of course. We were planning on 170 people for supper but I think we only had like 120 or 130. Last year we had a whole bus from Gridley which upped the numbers. Also last year we had 5 different groups singing and this year we had four. Which was okay with me cause each group has almost an hour to be up front and 5 hours of bluegrass just was really about too much for me. Now, if we could install a bunch of lazy boys at the fellowship center then we could have 10 groups and I don't think I'd mind. Sunday we had Jed Rocke and Randy Mogler. Listening to Randy made me miss my Washington Wednesday nights. Oooo- sorry to cut this off but I just saw that my time is almost up. And I'm really hungry anyways so I'm gonna go get some supper. C-ya.

Odd

So I had this dream last night that I was on the Titanic and I was the only one who knew it was going to sink. Not sure where that one came from. I know that Jake and Meika were on board, as was Tom Hoffman. But other than that I don't know who else.
I just got my hair trimmed. It feels so good. And smells so good cause it's been washed with awesome salon shampoo.
Today was our trike-a-thon. We set up a little track in the parking lot and the kids bring their bikes from home. They get pledge money for the school then. They can either do a flat rate or a certain amount per lap. They're cute. And I labored and toiled over making these road signs that we have stand up and it was too windy and they all fell over and broke. And if they didn't fall over they got ran over by an out of control child. Terribly depressing. But at least they looked cute for a few minutes.
Mom and Dad and a whole bunch of other people are coming this weekend for Homecoming 2007. We have a football game and a dance. And I made homecoming court this year. Vote for me! Okay so actually it's just a weekend with all the bluegrass and southern gospel music you could possibly want. But it should be fun.
All right I'm hungry so I'm gonna go home now. Bye.
Oh and by the way, those road signs I was talking about? They're not stolen or anything they're just made out of posterboard.

Gotta love them proposals!

I got proposed to at Wal-Mart today three times by the same guy. I also got totally scammed by him. I'm really mad at myself and embarrased too that I fell for it. Well, take that back. I didn't really fall for it but the guy was ruthless and I was ready to pay him just to back off. He was standing out front and when I walked up he said I dropped something so of course I turn around and look. And that's how we started our nice chat. His story was that he was from Bosnia and over here on some kind of program but he had to earn points to get money for his education. And in order to get points he has to sell magazines. I said I didn't want any magazines and he said I could buy a subscription to a Disney magazine and donate it to the local children's hospital. I mean this guy was totally messing with me. He asked me three times to marry him throughout the conversation, at one point he told me I was on candid camera, and every time I said something he liked he said "Oh I love you too." He was really weirding me out and I told him that but he couldn't seem to figure out why. So I should have just been rude and walked away but I just couldn't make myself be that mean. But at least I didn't go down without a fight. I asked him all kinds of questions and I told him over and over I didn't think he was legit. And first he told me 45 dollars for a 3 year subscription and then at the end he said 60 dollars. Because there was a one time processing fee. There was no way I was paying that much so as soon as he could see that, he only conned me out of the 45. He said "You just watch, I'll be talking to someone else when you come out." But when I left Wal-Mart he was nowhere to be seen. And I may have been gullible but at least I wasn't stupid. I paid with cash and refused to give him my name or address. I thought Yeah right I'll give you my debit card number or a check with all my information on it! Grrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Makes me so mad when I think about it. But I can't do anything about it now so I guess I'll just have to chalk it up as a learning experience.
But on another note, Wal-Mart did make my heart happy because they have their big Christmas section open now. I didn't linger, but I did have to stick my head in for just a minute. And speaking of happy hearts, one of my kids saw that I was getting frustrated today and he said "Miss Sarah! Open up your heart and let the sun shine in!" He made me laugh. I wasn't terribly frustrated, it was just a few minutes things started to get a little crazy. But control was regained and all was well. Until I went to Wal-Mart..........

See Blog Title

That's how I feel today. Mostly because I'm excited about being in Roanoke for the weekend so the days are starting to slow down drastically. But tomorrow is Friday and we're leaving once the kids are down for nap. Anyways, that's the plan. That's been the plan before when there's more than just me travelling but it has fallen through. So hopefully the plan happens this time around. I had a dream last night that I can't remember for the life of me. But I do know that I woke up with a start and didn't know where I was. And once I decided I was in my room I couldn't figure out how to get out. The door was in the wrong spot or something. But eventually everything got settled and I managed to get out.
Supposedly they're calling for storms tonight. Just so long as a tornado don't come and blow away our cars so we can't leave.
I'm very tired. I even got more sleep last night than I have in awhile. Musta been cause I was dreaming so hard. But anyways, I just can't think of much to say. Maybe next week I can tell you all about my weekend of focusing on being single. Or at least talk about my Doc's experience. That's got to be pretty exciting. But until then.... tootles!

Oops

I didn't mean to publish that last one without writing anything. Sorry bout that. But I just don't know what to write about. Umm...... last weekend was a lot of fun with Brad and Patty. This weekend is our board meeting and next weekend I'll be in Roanoke for Single Focus Weekend and I'm really hoping someone will go to Doc's with me. I bet I'll be able to convince someone. Last night me and Melissa went out to eat with Mark Masters (he's the newest guy on the board) and it was really fun. I used to be really close to his daughter and seeing him makes me miss her because she looks so much like him and all her mannerisms and everything are like him and so all of a sudden I wanted to be back in high school writing letters back and forth with Deanna again. Tonight we're eating with all the board members at a good ol' hole in the wall southern place. Mike always picks really classy places. (that was sarcastic in case you didn't notice) I guess he figures most of the places down here are up there too so he wants to give them a southern cooking experience. And for those of you who have never had one of those experiences, let me explain. There is no food known to mankind that you cannot deepfry. Or BBQ. But not ground beef BBQ. Shredded meat topped with slaw (not the mayonaisey kind from the north- more of a vinegar based slaw) and BBQ sauce. And not the kind that's probably in your fridge. More of a runny, kind of vinegary based sauce too. They do have normal kinds of sauce, but the runny kind is always an option wherever you go. Now, a lot of this stuff tastes really good going down, but about 1/2 hour after it's down you feel like you have a huge rock in your stomach and the best thing to do is just go to bed and hope you feel better in the morning. So if you ever get a hankering for something like that, just come on down and I'll help you out. All right Angie, I posted again. And that's all I have this afternoon. Oh- I bought new shoes today. If you want to see them, come to Roanoke next weekend.

I know I know

Visitors!

Brad and Patty are coming this weekend. I'm really excited. We're going to go to the Fiddler's convention. Don't tell Meika. She'll be awfuly jealous. Love you all.

Funny Stuff

So picture this really fat kid named Eric. Now, I love him to pieces. He is really lovable and cuddly and he is hilarious. You never know what he's going to come up with. Friday he told me that he was Eric the Barbarian. He's four. How does he even know that word? But today topped all. We were headed outside after snack this afternoon and Miss Barbara told him to get a drink before he came out so he wouldn't have to go back in right away. He says "No, I can't. Water gives me gas." I just had to enlighten you all with that story:)

I think I hear the angels rejoicing:)

We have a convert!!!! Mike and Pam's son Matthew started repenting this week. Now, people here in this church don't really have the personalities to make a big deal out of stuff, but there was definitely a feeling of everyone being encouraged and bonding together yesterday. So if you think of it you all can pray for him. That God provides him with some solid Christian friends that help him along the way and that he doesn't give up. (He's a senior in high school.) So, that's my news for the day. Last night we went to Tennessee for a weiner roast. By the way did I ever mention we have a new couple living at the fellowship center? Well, we do. Ryan and Hope Stoller from Fairbury. They have two kids- Braeden is 3 and Kiera is 5 months I think. We love having them here. They're pretty awesome. Anyways, I was reminded of how much I love hot dogs charred from the fire. Charred marshmallows, too. And I also discovered that it's no fun to play sand volleyball when there is nests of fire ants all over the place. Ouch.

Fashion Statements

So this guy just walked past with too short shorts and purple argyle socks hiked up while wearing white tennis shoes. Guys- just..... just don't. Okay? Well I feel like I had something worth mentioning. That always happens. Something happens that I want to blog about but then when I'm in front of the computer I forget. Oh I know. Kids are just really honest. See, I always like to lift up their shirts and poke their belly buttons. And they always want to see mine. But they never get to. But yesterday I decided to humble myself and let them. All the big kids were gone on a field trip and I thought it would be harmless to show a bunch of two and three year olds my belly button. So I did. Well one of the two year olds who talks very clearly and precisely (sp?) and you never know what's going to come out of her mouth says "You have a fat belly." Hmmm.... why thank you for pointing that out Darby, I hadn't noticed. There's also Brady who will kindly let me know if my breath stinks. Good thing I keep a pack of gum handy. Actually he's only done that a couple times. Well I just can't think of much else to say. Sorry. Give me an idea. What exciting part of my life do you want to know about? Tell me and I'll see what I can come up with.

ANGIE SUE SHUCK

This post is going to be dedicated to Angie. Because she deserves it, especially after all the grief I've caused her over the past few weeks:) But really- I love her so. She has always been there for me since we were just young'ns, minus a few silent treatments. But I'm not bitter about those. Really. I'm not. She can always make me laugh no matter how bad of a day I've had or how down in the dumps I might be. I mean, like, hold my gut and snort cause I'm laughing so hard kind of laugh. And if I can't get ahold of her I can just think of a memory that has made me laugh before and will feel better. She's just that great. Angie is really good about letting people know that she loves them and likes to do little things to make them smile. And she randomly writes me letters when she's supposed to be working that I love to get in the mail. And they are always filled with her beautful and creative artwork. And I never have to look pretty for her. She might make fun of me, but it's only because she loves me. And I just love her so much. She is just great and everybody should have a friend and a cousin like her. And I wish I had a really embarrassing picture to post of her. But I don't so you can just picture her in your head.

It's beggining to look a lot like.......

So..... I've been fighting the urge to break out the Christmas music seeing as how it's barely September. But last night I went to a potato supper at the librarians house. Yes. Random. Anyways, it was people from her Church of Christ congregation but it mas as well been AC's. We ate supper then sang a capella out of their hymnbooks. And someone called off "O Beautiful Star". And after we got home I gave into the urge I've been fighting. I listened to Michael W. Smith last night and Point of Grace this morning. I'm sure after a quick fix I'll be fine until at least halfway through October. And I know I'm not the only one out there. I know there's others that find Christmas music appropriate any time of the year. And that's all I have tonight.

Weekend Recap

Finally. Tonight is the first time I checked my e-mail or anything since I got home. The weekend was just really really great. Went to Doc's of course, and Liberty Joy sat by me and actually talked to me the whole time. She's getting old enough that it doesn't take near as long to warm up to me. I went to the library too and got 5 books. I'm on the fourth one. I'm one of those read a book in a day and get nothing productive done type of people. Saturday night was my Queenwood "bash". It was fairly small but it was fun. Complete with a pinata and everything. Sunday was good. I thoughly enjoyed my church lunch. Donuts are few and far between anymore and I savored every bite. I had an awesome Sunday afternoon nap in my awesome bed and then went to Olive Garden with my parents and Nate and Jamie. Then we hit up the Ice Cream Shak cause Jeremy and Lid were going to be there and I wanted to see them. And lo and behold when I got there I saw a whole table full of friends that I didn't know would be there. So of course that was fun. Monday (my birthday) I was planning to go to Monical's for lunch with a few cousins but it turned into a cookout at Nate and Jamie's with aunts and uncles and everybody. So even thought I still want Monical's I'm really glad that's what we did. Then I had to leave. It stinks leaving home. And everybody was lined up in front of the house waving as I drove off. Fun, but sad. By the way, spending your birthday driving by yourself if not a terribly exciting way to celebrate. I wonder how old I'll be before I quit getting excited about my birthday. Oh!-Side note-so yesterday the Graduation song by Vitamin C was going through my head for some reason. Who knows why. Particularly the line that says something like How's it gonna be when we turn 25? I'm there now. And there's not a whole lot to it. Anywho, I kept a written tally of the cops I saw on the way home. I saw 24. Three were in Nashville. The other 21 were all in Illinois. Crazy. But now I am past my doomsday and if I get a ticket now I will not lose my license. Just so I don't get two before January. Okay that's my weekend in a nutshell. Can't wait to go back next weekend!

Luke it didn't work

And I did just what you told me to do.
ANGIE!!!!!!!!!! YES I AM STAYING UNTIL MONDAY!!!!!!!!! PERHAPS WE COULD ENJOY A NICE BRUNCH TOGETHER BEFORE I EMBARK ON MY JOURNEY BACK TO ALABAMA!!!!!!!! (BREAKFAST WOULD BE TOO EARLY, LUNCH A LITTLE TOO LATE) I'M VERY SORRY IF I OFFENDED YOU BY NOT ANSWERING RIGHT AWAY BUT I SOMEHOW THOUGHT YOU ALREADY KNEW!!!!!!!!! PLEASE FORGIVE ME AS I LOVE YOU DEARLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND I HOPE THIS HAS BROUGHT A SMILE TO YOUR FACE:) DON'T DROWN ON THE FLAMBEAU!!!!!!!!!

I am computer illiterate

And I cannot figure out this blog sometimes. As you may have noticed, I finally figured out why it was only letting me do one big post rather than paragraphs or lists or something. But now I need help with my profile. You cannot get to my blog from my profile. It doesn't display the "Is It Friday Yet?" under the blog name part. Can anyone tell me what to do? I really need to learn computers better. I mean, besided the internet and Word, I'm pretty much clueless.
I'm babysitting tonight. The same people that I babysat for when their friends son died. Tonight they're going to a dinner or something and I have to be there at 4:00. And I don't know how long it will last, but it will be late enough that she said I could just spend the night if I want to. So I hope I survive. They have three boys with ADD. AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Been Awhile, eh?

I know it's been forever and here are my excuses.
1.) My car broke down and I couldn't get to the library.

Well that's pretty much it. I tried to post a couple times from our computer at home but it was working way to slow. So I didn't. But now, $409.91 later, I've been reunited with my car and am back at the library. I sure hope it's all fixed now. But I'm a little worried. Cause every time I drive over a decent size bump there's a new sound that I've never heard before. And I still need to give it gas before it starts. So I just really hope I don't get stranded in the middle of Kentucky or something next time I drive home. And speaking of driving home, I'm really anxious for Labor Day weekend when I'll be there. I mean, I've seen my family a lot it seems, but I miss Roanoke church and Doc's and all that other good stuff. And I'm excited for the three day weekend where I won't have to drive back to AL right after church on Sunday.
Well we've kinda been in the middle of a heat wave down here. But now this week it cooled off to like 97 or something. It's just hot. That's all there is to it. But I have adjusted to the heat better than I thought I would so I guess that's a good thing.
Okay I'm sure I could think of more to say but I'm getting tired and I'm really a starvin Marvin right now so I'm gonna go.

Like, duh

I know I usually post dumb stuff that's really light hearted and not too deep. But in my devotions the other night I read a verse that I don't think I had ever read before. And while I've known the concept of the verse for quite some time now, it was just a good reminder. There's just a couple things that I've been thinking "yeah, I know God is in control and can do what He wants, but how?" I always think I need to know exactly what God is thinking and what His next move is. But when I read this verse it was kinda like okay just sit back, relax and let God do His thing.

Jeremiah 32:27
"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?"

Nothing too hugely profound, but like the title of the post says..... Like, duh!

Things that make me smile:)

-Kentucky was just a lot of fun
-We had ugly week in Kentucky. It didn't matter what I looked like.
-Going off a water slide just never gets old. Even if the slide is only a few feet long.
-I didn't get stopped on the way home when I sure thought I was going to.
(boy I was praying hard on that one because if I get a ticket before September 4th I lose my license)
-I bought gas in Hopkinsville, KY for $2.41. It was beautiful.
-Flowerpot bread with strawberry butter from Patti's Establishment.
-Chick flicks
-Watching chick flicks with 7 people crowded around a portable DVD player.
-Now would someone please tell the little boy next to me in the library to stop singing.
-A lady's cell phone just went off and her ringtone was "Shackles" by Mary Mary.
-Getting home and finding out Maurice's has opened in Athens.

Now for some things that didn't make me smile:
-How about the time I was laying ever so peacefully on my raft and a fish jumped onto it and started splashing around right by my head. It wasn't so peaceful anymore.
-I got rid of my awesome farmer's tan.
-Missing the Leo Sale.

And there's lots of other stuff that made me smile. But I'm tired and that's all I could think of right now. So I hope you all have a lovely day.

Kidisms

Okay I have six minutes before my computer shuts off so I'll try to get this all out before then. A couple of funnies happend in the past couple days. Okay not like hold your gut from laughing so hard but more like cutesy funnies. Yesterday I was sweeping out the vents on our air conditioners. Chloe who is one of those really cute adorable kids asked why we got new ones. I told her cause the old ones were worthless and asked her if she liked the new ones. She said yes and then with a big sigh said, "they're beautiful". I've never heard an air conditioner described as beautiful before but I guess there's a first for everything. The other awwwww moment happened today. I guess even though I don't really have grown men swooning over me, at least I have four year olds. I was helping a little girl put her shoes on and Cowan (who is about the most annoying kid ever) came and jumped on my back. Devin (my boyfriend) was standing there and yelled "Get off! I love her! That is MY Miss Sarah!" At least someone's around to defend my honor. Okay I have just two minutes left so I need to go. I'm leaving Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I probly won't be writing anything until after vacation but y'all should just leave a bunch of fun comments for me to come home to. Have a good one!

Notalottastuffgoinon

Well nothing too exciting has been happening the past couple weeks. Tammy Sauder is coming to visit me tonight. She has been with some of her cousins over in Huntsville all week and is coming over for supper and stuff tonight. She said she doesn't care what we do as long as we can maybe go out to eat because her cousins are reeeally reeeally healthy. And that is a sad situation to be in. So we will go get Tammy some real food tonight and make her feel better.
I think I'm going to paint my room this weekend. Anyways, that's the goal. Melissa's family is camping in Springfield this weekend so she's gone, Sarah and Kerwin and their girls are gone, and Mark has a couple day trips this weekend so I'm pretty much on my own. And my room really needs a fresh coat of paint. We decided it probably hasn't been painted since the place was built over 20 years ago. I think I decided on yellow and brown and I'll accent with green. I really want to get a tree for my room. A fake one, cause I have very much a Not green thumb. I like the colors I picked out but I'm afraid it will remind people of a giraffe. But I guess if it's really ugly I can always repaint it again.
Last weekend I tried sushi for the first time. I tried California rolls which have avacodo and stuff in them and no raw fish and I also got brave and tried the raw fish too. And I was suprised but the raw fish was a lot better that the California rolls I though. It's not something I really care to make a habit of eating, but if someone offered me money to eat it, I could. And there are definitely foods that I could not eat no matter how much money you offered me. Pickles for example, are probably the most disgusting food known to mankind. I could maybe force them down if I was allowed to plug my nose and have like three glasses of water right after I swallowed.
My Devin was sick the past couple days. Tuesday he spiked a fever and threw up. I decided I must really really love him because I was the one to clean it up and normally I'm a sympathy puker and I always make other teachers clean up my kids puke. But one nice thing about sick kids is that they turn really cuddly really fast. So I got to hold him all morning long until his mom came and not feel like I was babying him or playing favorites.
Okay thats all for now. I believe the Kentucky countdown is in the single digits now. That's terribly exciting. Y'all be good now, ya hear?

Dear Erin

A few days ago I passed this guy on the road and had to do a double take. He was in a white Jeep, one hand on the steering wheel in the 12:00 position, dark complected, kinda hunched over and wearing an orange cap. I was just wondering if you had kicked Herb out of the house and he was wandering aimlessly around the country. Because it really really looked like him.
Love,
Sarah

Adventures in Athens

Let me tell you about some recent adventures. One involves cooking and one involves streaking. Sunday when Kristi was here it was potluck Sunday at church. So she willingly helped me get my food ready. We made twice baked potatoes and monkey bread. The potatoes turned out quite delightful. The monkey bread on the other hand....... Actually it tasted fine. But we had it in an angel food cake pan and not a bundt pan which was a big mistake. Cause all the goopies dripped out and onto the bottom of the oven. I used the church oven too, cause it's a lot nicer for baking. And when I went to get it out, the whole kitchen was a haze. And the next morning had everyone trying to figure out what the smell was. It was a little humbling. Then during Sunday School I had 9 kids. As opposed to 1 or 2. We had a lot of Edelman's visiting which was an adventure by itself and also Ted and Cindy Witzig were here with three of their grandkids. Well, the little boy who was about the cutest thing ever said he had to go potty. I didn't realize he was in a pullup otherwise I would have made him stay. But thinking he had underwear on I didn't want him to go all over. So I sent his older sister with him. She came back saying he had a wet diaper and she didn't know what to do. While she was talking to me about his diaper he decided to run into the sanctuary with no pants or diaper on. I did not realize what was going on until after the fact. Sara told me after Sunday School. Once again, I was a little humbled because he was kind of my responsibiltiy at the time, but I thought it was pretty funny. It's not every Sunday you get a streaker going through church, eh?

Yee Haw!

Kristi is down here with me right now. She is sitting in the library watching me type. They wouldn't let her get on a computer without a photo ID. Dumb rule. But anywho... we went to the rodeo. She thought it was the best experience she has ever had in her life. She won't stop talking about it. Except she felt terrible for the calves in the calf roping event. Although she was assured it doesn't hurt the animals, she didn't like that part. The arena was pretty much soup from all the rain we've finally been getting. They have a calf scramble where they have all the kids come out and chase calfs and try to grab a ribbon off their tails. The kids were all getting stuck in the mud and falling down and stuff. And the cowboys had to come pull them out. Some of them were digging around trying to find their shoes. Pretty funny. Unfortunately, I missed seeing that part because I was hanging out with the Athens Locksmith while he got Kristi's car unlocked with her keys inside. (It was my fault.) I decided I'm going to become a locksmith because they make a lot more money than I do. 45 dollars for about 5 minutes. How annoying. So I missed the calf scramble and most of the steer wresting. But I didn't miss any of the barrel racing or bull riding. The girl I was rooting for in barrel racing knocked over two barrels. And none of the bull riders made it to the buzzer. But the girl was from Athens and nervous around the hometown crowd, and the bulls were ruthless. So we'll give em some slack. Now tonight we're trying to think of something to do that's fun and free. Or at least cheap. Any ideas? All right I think that's about all I have. Oh- my car isn't starting. I don't know why. But I'll have to get that fixed. Donations can be sent directly to my house and I'll have my secretary take care of them. Have a great day!

Stuff

Letseee....... Last night I went bowling with Mark, a guy he knows named Dave and Dave's friend Robert. (Melissa's in IL) Very, very random. But it was pretty fun. And I won. And for the first time in my life I got a turkey. (Three strikes in a row.) Our Governor (bless his pea pickin heart) issued some official Pray for Rain days. They worked. Yesterday afternoon it came down in torrents. And when that happens, the preschool tends to flood. Which it did yesterday. But thankfully it starts in the bathrooms where there's linoleum and we were able to control it enough that it didn't come too far out onto the carpet. But it still reeks over there. And I blew fans and ran the dehumidifier all night long and it's still nowhere near dry where the carpet got wet. So hopefully by Monday morning it airs out a little. Tomorrow I'm babysitting for a family from preschool. Their oldest son's best friend was killed Thursday night in a firecracker accident. I guess the dog got freaked out and knocked it over and it went off and shot him right in the chest. He was seven and an only child. But the kids regular babysitter is out of town so I'm going over there. I'm glad to help out, but there goes my Sunday afternoon nap. Oh well. Well that's about all I have today. Sorry Beks- this is pretty much the same thing as your e-mail. Hey- I need a Kentucky countdown from somebody. Bye.

Did You Know

That bubble wrap will keep three year olds entertained for at least 20 minutes? I found that out this week. And if you've never worked with three year olds, 20 minutes+ is a long time. I got a haircut today. It always feels so good to get the split ends off. And I love getting it washed with salon shampoo. I can't stop smelling it. Well it's finally rained enough that we can go watch fireworks. Hurray! I feel like I had something I was going to blog about but now I just can't remember what it was. I'm sure I'll remember just as soon as I log off the computer. I want to take a vacation. I know it still a ways off, but I do have two weeks off work around Christmas time and I want to take a vacation then. But a lot of times I have ideas that never happen. So for now I'll just keep counting down the days until Kentucky. Which, the countdown is in the thirties now. Very very exciting. I just can't wait to watch a certain someone go down the slide in his bright green innertube. You know who you are. Well I think that's all for now. I hope everyone is doing just swell.

The librarian tonight is really pretty

That's just an observation. I really didn't plan on posting about her. But guess who was in Athens today?!? President Bush came for a visit. See, we have a nuclear power plant here in town and one of the units was started up last month after being shut down for 22 years. So he came to congratulate everybody on a job well done I guess and to promote his ideas of why nuclear power is a good thing or something. But he might have called it nucular power. But I didn't get to see him. Somehow the Apostolic Christian Preschool didn't make it to the top of his places to visit list. But he drove past Mark's house on the way to the plant and on the way back to Huntsville airport and Mark saw him through the window. Umm...... I ate a whole box of strawberries today. But I was just so hungry. And they were just so good. So I just kept eating them. I'm leaving tomorrow hopefully after the kids fall asleep for Taylor. Very exciting. The past couple of times I travelled I wasn't alone. I'm kind of looking forward to it. Me, my music, my Mt. Dew and the open road. Except for in Nashville and St. Louis it probably won't be so open. But I did find some 80's hits CD's in the library that I'm going to check out and take with me. I'll bet the pretty librarian is the one scan them and tell me when they're due back. Okay that's my news for the day. Have a good one.

It's Raining!

Do you know why it's raining? Because I left my car windows down last night. I mean really- in the middle of the worst draught on record and I leave my windows down for one night. And it rains. But I'm not complaining. Except for now my car stinks very much bad. So the new kid showed up that really was supposed to come. And I think he's a lot cuter than the one we had for 15 minutes. His name is Darian Tyrell Kirby. But they call him Ty for short. Which proves my point- again- that everybody down here has two first names. So we have about 6 1/2 weeks until Kentucky. I am so very excited. I was very bored last night so I started calling random people. Sometime you may be one of those lucky ones if I have your phone number. Just you wait. Okay I need to go. I'm on my break and no computers were free for a long time. But now obviously I have one but now I need to go back to work. So you all just have a lovely day.

Daryl Howard

Yesterday this guy comes to the preschool in the morning to drop off his little boy. I knew we were probably going to get a new little guy so I thought nothing of it. The dad just dropped him off and left which is very unusual for the first day, but Daryl seemed to be doing fine. Well then Melissa started looking through his paperwork and realized that he was at the wrong place. After several phone calls she finally got ahold of the dad and he came back and got him. He was supposed to go to Loving Arms, but then later we found out that he stopped by the kitchen and asked Miss Barbara how to get to Tender Care. So hopefully Daryl got to wherever he was supposed to be. He was really cute, but he was into absolutely everything the whole 15 minutes we had him so maybe I'm glad he was going to Loving Arms. Anyways, Girl's Camp was this past weekend. And, as usual, was great. I've never had a cabin full of girls that stuck together as much as this one did. It was great how much they all got along. And my lovely co-counselor Alexis just made camp even better. The theme was being sold out for Jesus. I think it did me more good than it did the girls. I don't have anything going on this weekend which makes me happy because I feel like I need a weekend just to breathe for awhile. But then next weekend it's up to Taylor for Jenae's wedding. Which will be thrilling I'm sure. Even though it can be hard to see close friends get married, their weddings are usually the most fun. Lessseeee.... oh- you all can pray for rain for us down here. For real. Maybe I think about it more being a farmer's daughter, but really- we need rain. All the cattle farmers are selling their cows because they can't afford to feed them and we're having the worst draught on record (since 1890 something) and they had a pretty bad one too, last year. And unless it rains anytime soon it looks like we will not be having any fireworks displays for July 4 this year. Which truly is a tragedy. So if you think about it, you can pray that God sends some rain down here. Well I think that's all my news. I need to get some stuff done for my kid's Father's Day presents. We're making cards that look like shoes and putting their footprints on the inside with this poem: Here is my little footprint, One day it will fit your shoe, I watch what you are doing, Because Daddy I want to be like you. Touching, isn't it? Okay, tootles!

I'm Hungry

So that really has nothing to do with anything that I might say this time around, but with this continuous gnawing going on in my belly it's all I could think of. I feel like I've hardly had time to sit down and breathe since Memorial Day weekend. We went up Friday night for the Gridley invite which was really really really really good by the way. Except Gab didn't come and I left her a voicemail telling her to and she didn't listen to me. But she's going to eat supper with me tomorrow night so I guess I can forgive her. Bekah came back with us Sunday evening and she's going back up with me tomorrow. I'm going back for girl's camp. I'm getting excited. It took me awhile to get into it this year, probably because we were really unorganized for awhile. But we (meaning me and Alexis Gasser my co-counselor) finally kind of got a few ideas thrown together and now that I'm leaving tomorrow I'm really excited. So I have to tell you all about my tricycle accident. It actually happend the Friday before Memorial Day but I never got around to writing about it. I was having a race with a couple of the boys and the first lap around I went at a very controlled speed and they totally smoked me. (I had my feet on the back and was using it like a scooter.) The second time around I wanted to win so I went as fast as I could. And then I heard the boys come up behind me. Realizing that they don't quite grasp the concept of not ramming into people I turned to see where they were while I was trying to get over. Well, that didn't turn out so well. I went over the handle bars and skidded to a stop on my right side. So I have a bump on me elbow bone a bump on my knee bone and about five bruises running down my leg. But the boys thought it was cool and wanted to know how I did that flip so I guess maybe it was worth it. But I was definitely sore for a couple days. All right the gnawing is getting worse so I'm going to go.

MISS SARAH!!!!!!!!

Brady just peed on me! That was the day that welcomed me back from a really great weekend. Mom and Dad got down here Friday afternoon and we went out for supper. Saturday we went up to the Tennessee Fellowship Center around noon and waited for people to show up. In the afternoon we had the auction for the fellowship center and preschool. By the way, did you know they're not making Leman mints anymore? There were some bags of mints on the auction and at first I thought how pathetic, but then I found out that they weren't going to make them anymore. All the bags went for about 20 bucks a piece. Most expensive mints ever. The only thing I bought was a Purdue blanket. I'm not sure why I bought it. But I did. Now in our house we have U of I clothes, a Purdue blanket and Auburn pillows. So we look like we're all smart and went to big universities. But remember looks can be decieving. Supper, singing and Andy Stoller speaking Saturday night and then a really short game of Dutch Blitz before we realized we were exhausted. We had 7 girls at our house. We filled the fellowship hall with air mattresses. Sunday church and then volleyball and pizza for the young group and then back up to TN. More singing, more supper, Herbie Knochel speaking, more singing again, then some more snacks then more volleyball. Oops, my shoe just made a noise that sounded like a fart but it really wasn't I promise. Anyways, it was a good weekend. Yesterday we went to Sarah and Kerwin's to see Melissa's sister, brother and their friends off. Then we ended up staying until the afternoon before we went to Doris's house where the kids swam and we had lupper. Then we went back to Sarah and Kerwin's to play games but ended up watching a documentary about JFK. I didn't get into it until about 10 minutes before we left. Oh well. This morning was really hard to get up. But I have survived the workday and even the gym. Now I'm ready to go eat supper and crash for the night. Everyone needs to come down next year for Memorial Day. Mark your calendars.

Welcome to our graderashin

That's what one of the kids said last night at our graduation. It turned out really cute. During all the practices we were so stressed, thinking it would never go. Cause they were terrible during practice. But when there's lots of people there, they freeze up a little bit and they did a really good job. Tylan and Devin both faceplanted on the risers. Tylan and Devin also both unzipped their gowns in the middle of a song. The first time we tried on gowns Devin says "Is that my dress?" (southern accent remember) Half my class got ahead of the other half during one of the songs and it sounded like a really bad round. I spent pretty much the entire time glued to Devin except for when they were up there singing and the one time I wasn't glued to him I got a "GRAB HIM" look from his dad. But, sorry, I'm not going to jerk your kid around in front of all these people. I'll wait till they're gone and then I'll jerk him around. Eric the fat kid got ticked off at me when I wouldn't let him sit in my lap. Seriously, my legs go numb when he does. But they all just did a really good job. It wasn't as eventful as our Christmas play, though. Brady didn't come. Miss Doris started singing "Praise God from whom all blessings flow....." I mean, Brady almost burnt his house down last weekend. That's the kind of kid he is. So even though he would probably have spiced things up a little, it was a blessing that he didn't show. And speaking of Miss Doris, yesterday was her last day of work. Graderashin was her last responsibility as a preschool employee. And as she was leaving, she totally squealed her tires. And Mike yelled out "She's retired!!!" It was pretty funny. Really funny actually. Tomorrow night we're going to the annual rodeo that's in town. I really wanted to go tonight but Mark made some feeble excuse why tomorrow night would be better. Either way, me and Melissa still want to go so he may as well have gotten it over with tonight. It better not rain tomorrow night. Okay my hands are tired of typing for now. Y'all have a good one.

Revelation 21:8

Okay so I lied. I didn't really go to a Gold City concert. I really wanted to, but instead I was on my way to Illinois at the time. Seeing as how today was the mother/daughter luncheon at church, my dad's birthday and tomorrow is Mother's Day, I came up and suprised them. And since I can't go to Jenae's personal shower, I showed up at the singing shower. And it was fun because nobody knew I was coming except for Nate and Jamie cause I needed a place to stay without mom and dad knowing and Jamie got my ticket for the luncheon. Tonight we're grilling boogers. Burgers actually but I like to say boogers. I would love to continue typing, but I'm using Jamie's laptop and I am just not used to they keyboard and I keep hitting the mouse thing and it's bugging me so I'm going to go. Have a good one! Oh, and I am very very sad that Angie and Robey are in Taylor this weekend. Very sad.

Will It Ever End?

So if I try to count up the number of friends who have gotten engaged since I've moved to Alabama, I need to use my toes because I've run out of fingers. For real. AAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry Jerm, but you and Lid just really threw me off. I'm perfectly fine with the idea but it's taking awhile to sink in. Anyways, enough about that topic. Francessville was good. Maybe not quite as many people there as I thought, but Dustin and Mandy showed up which was very exciting. I didn't know they would be there. They forgot to bring their kids though. Very sad. My kid Devin from work has been really out of control the past couple days. Which forces me to talk to his dad. The scary one. By the way the computer desk that I'm using at the library is dedicated to Butch Elliott in honor of his service to the library. Isn't that special. Friday night is a Gold City concert that I'm very excited about. I've heard of them but I don't know if I've actually heard their music. A capella southern gospel. Kerwin describes it as the kind of music you can really sing along to. So it should be good. Well I need to go look for some kid's books to check out. We started working on Mother's Day presents today. It definitely has potential to turn into a disaster before it's all said and done. As do most things in my class. So anywho......

KidStuff

Jes a couple of quick things here. I have this kid Tylan. I like him a lot. He's really cute and he can dance like none other. I aspire to be like him. Anyways, he brings me a flower almost every day. He always walks up to me, holding out his flower with a huge grin on his face cause he's so excited to give it to me. Unfortunately, he almost always picks a dandelion that has gone to seed. So I just sit and watch it blow away as he brings it over. But he's just so proud of those flowers, it's so cute. Then there's Chance. We're really ready for him to go to Kindergarten. Supposedly he'll be done once we have graduataion because supposedly he's staying home with mom or grandma or somebody all summer before he starts big school. We'll see how that works out. But anyways, moving forward- Chance's family definitely fits into the redneck category. Not everybody down here is redneck. There's a difference between being redneck and just being southern. But Chance for sure comes from a redneck family. I get mad at Chance a lot. We all do. And on one particular occasion of me being mad at him he looks at me and grins and says "Boy you sure are purdy." It was hard to be mad after that. Until his next offence anyways. But that time he got off the hook. Well I'm headed up to Francessville this weekend for Britni Gudeman's wedding. I'm excited because there will probably be a lot of people there that I never get to see. And because it's in Indiana and I used to go out there all the time but not anymore since I moved. And because it's Britni and she's cool. Lots of good times with Britni. And just because I'm in need of a road trip. I get a little stir crazy if I go to long in between trips. I can only handle so many Athens weekends in a row before I'm ready to get out. So that's my life for this week. I hope all your lives are going swell!

Can't think of a title....

So today one of my kids who is known to be a terror decided to pull a girl's pants and underwear down and start smacking her bare butt. Seeing how it was a pretty major offence, I knew I had to tell his dad when he came to get the kid. His dad is kinda rough looking and I used to be really intimidated by him. I still am a little bit, but I've seen a softer side of him when he's interacting with his son so it makes it a little easier to talk to him. But it's still scary to tell him when Devin's been bad because I never know quite how he's going to react. Well, today I told him what happened, and it was really hard to keep a straight face. Because it was bad, and his dad got upset and made him apologize, but at the same time he was laughing. But what made it really hard not to laugh was that while we were standing there talking, he was flossing his teeth. I mean, I didn't know if I should ignore it (I did) or make fun of him. (I almost did.) Really, what's a girl to do? And on a completely different subject, next week I am going to take a hospice volunteer training course. It's four hours long on Tuesday and Thursday which I'm not too excited about, but when I talked to the lady about it on the phone today it sounded really neat. (Once I get past the training.) I kept reading about it in the paper and it just really intrigued me. So I'm going to give it a try. Tomorrow I'm going to give blood. I'm kind of excited. Hey I just noticed they finally changed the bulliten board in the kids section of the library. Up until now it was still decorated for Halloween. Now it's "Round up a Good Book" with a dog riding a horse. I think I could do better. Anyways....

I know, I know

It's been forever. At least forever. Maybe longer. I guess my life just isn't as exciting as is used to be and it's harder to find things worth mentioning. Maybe I'll do different colors again like I used to in effort to jazz things up a bit. We had Sara's baby shower on Saturday which was a smashing success. Her and Melissa's parents and brother and sister came down and it's always fun to spend time with all of them. We've been having problems at work. We've had this epidemic of children saying the f-word. I don't know what their deal is. One of the parents got upset when we used soap, so now we use pepper. We're just not quite sure what to do about it. Tonight when I was at the gym I was on the treadmill and watching Wheel of Fortune. The category was On the Map. And the place on the map was Peoria Illinois. I almost gave a shout out, but I decided not too. But it was kinda random. I got my federal tax return today. Ten dollars. I know. Don't be jealous. I plan to go on a shopping spree with all my extra money this weekend. I'm thinking I could hit up Wal-Mart or something. Now there's an idea that's new and different. All right well I think that's about all for now. I hope you all are having a wonderful week. I've noticed a drastic drop in the number of comments I've been getting. So a big thank you to the few faithful readers I have left. I love you all.

So.. no pictures

Yes, I went home and had every intention of putting my pictures onto my parents computer. But about the time I crossed the Ohio River into Illinois, I realized that I forgot the cord that attatches my computer to my camera. I'm sure that cord has a name but I just really don't know what it is. Robey gave me his thinking it would work, but it didn't. But my uncle Brad came to the rescue with his computer. He could just stick my memory card in there and put them on his computer and then onto a CD for me. I guess I would have had time on Saturday afternoon, but a nap just really sounded like more fun. So that's what I did. For three hours. It was just beautiful. Letsseee..... oh here's a story. Last Sunday (the 1st) we were at Sarah and Kerwins after church for pizza. Jessica was trying to get her homework done and Amber was doing nothing but get in the way. So I took Amber and we went on a little walk. We were just getting back and I said "It's good we're back I just felt a raindrop." Then I looked down at my hand and it weren't no raindrop. Yes, something pooped on my hand. I don't think it was a bird. It was pretty little and it was brown, not white. I was just glad it hit my hand and not my head. Last Wednesday instead of having church we cleaned the church. It had been awhile. And yours truly had the glorious job of scrubbing the walls behind the urinals. Last night we did the fellowship hall. I had a much better experience. But now I'm feeling very hungry and I need to go to Wal-Mart so I'm going to go. Tootles!

Another Amazing Trip

Well, Jamaica has come and gone for another year. Always a sad thing. Another countdown has started for next year. Only what- 358 days until Blast off? But yes, it was incredible- again. I made it to Nashville safe and sound and checked into the airport about 4:30 in the morning. My flights were all uneventful and I landed in Kingston about 10:30. I was one of the first ones through immigration and by the time I was out, my luggage was waiting for me. I was the first one through customs and so it just really didn't take long at all to get outside and wait for Maria Lawrence (the school principal) to pick me up. Well, she didn't know for sure what time I was getting in, mixed with lunch hour traffic Jamaica style, mixed with the national cricket tournament being held in Kingston so I sat outside until noon. But I wasn't scared or nothing. It was kinda fun to just sit and watch people. But I was glad to see her show up by the time she finally got there. I worked for about 10 minutes on Monday. But right after I got to the worksite it started pouring down rain and they were done for the day. Tuesday and Wednesday were big days. We poured a second story floor and in order to beat the rain we got up at 4:30 both mornings so we could be done by mid afternoon. So it was kind of intense for me anyways. I was thankful for the 9:30 lights out. Thursday was our Ocho Rios day. It was all right I guess. It rained off and on all day and there were a handful of us who just really had the been there done that attitude and weren't too excited. But it turned out okay. We just sat on the beach and played euchre and then went up to the market and walked around for awhile. Thursday night was the Hands of Praise program. Always a tear jerker. Followed by our ice cream party that we always have with the kids. They know who we are and they look forward to it every year. Every year we help get ready for their big track and field day but we never are around to see it. But this year it all worked out so that's what we did on Friday. It was so much fun. It's a really big deal for the kids. They have Spirit week and take their races very seriously. And they're all really good runners. They all come out in their best tennis shoes, but then end up taking them off to run. And they're fast. Really fast. I'm sure if I raced them they would lap me several times. Friday night we were able to stay up late and enjoy our last night. Saturday our flight didn't leave until early afternoon so we were able to get up about 8, have breakfast, clean up a little and just relax for a little while. Except for the Gridley group who had to work because they left yesterday. I'm at the library so I have to cut this short. But as all of you who have been on work trips know, you just can't describe it to someone. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures this weekend when I'm home for Easter. I'm am ever so thankful for a short work week! Okay I really gotta go.

Wedding Blues

Well, here I am in Illinois. I got to spend the night at Queenwood last night. That's where I am right now. A few of us got to hang out with Meika last night while Jake had his bachelor supper. So that was fun. I have a terrible confession. Earlier this week I was in tears because I didn't want to come up here. I just wanted to change my plane ticket and leave for Jamaica on Friday like I was supposed to. But now that I'm here and have seen Meika I'm glad I didn't. This is what I was supposed to do. I guess I don't really have much to say but I just felt the urge to post. Here's my plans for Sunday. After the reception (look for me at the guestbook) I'm going back to my parents to sleep for awhile then I'll get up and leave around 9 or 9:30 and drive to Nashville. I'm flying out of there because that's where I'll want to end up on the way back. My plane leaves at six in the morning so I need to be there at like 4. So it kinda makes for a wierd schedule but I guess ya gotta do what ya gotta do. All right I'm going to go get ready for the day now. We'll talk in a week or so!

Yawn....

Wow. Has it really been a week already since I posted? There goes my goal of posting more than once a week. I really would do a better job of it if it was for our stinking dial up that takes forever and usually won't let me post even when I try. Well let's see. Here's my week. My mom was here from Saturday afternoon until Tuesday evening. Dad is in Haiti and she's on Spring Break so she came down for a visit. And while she was here I conned her into subbing at the preschool while Melissa is in Biloxi. It was fun. The kids really have been pretty good considering Melissa's gone and we've had three different subs. Until today at naptime. Oh my word. We always make all the kids go to the bathroom before nap. I mean, that's a no brainer. I don't know if I skipped over Brady accidentally or if he was just causing trouble, but about the time they were all finally settled down, he yells out "I just peed myself." So I went and changed him. Mind you, all the lights are out and kids are laying all over the floor on their mats trying to go to sleep. So I sent him back to his mat which somehow didn't get wet and laid back down. I had Brailyn laying next to me and he has no excuse for having an accident. He's been potty trained for a long time. But guess what. He peed himself. So I get up again (meanwhile Devin who is on the other side of me is flipping around turning somersaults on his mat) and go to change Brailyn. While I was digging his clean clothes out (in the dark), Zion, who is five and also has no excuse for an accident decided to pee himself too. I was so ticked. Brady might not have done it on purpose. But I'm almost positive that Brailyn and Zion meant to. But they got dry and fresh and laid back down. If they try and pull that one again I just might make them lay in it the whole naptime. It really was ridiculous. And before we even cut the lights off, Ronnie was taking his turn in the bathroom. Ronnie is a child who is very much.... out there. He's five. He comes out, pants at his ankles and says "Miss Sarah it won't work." I'm thinking the toilet won't work because we've had a lot of problems with it. I asked him what wouldn't work and he says "My pee pee. It won't let the pee come out of it." Seriously sometimes I wonder why I ever went to school for this. Next week I'm going to be helping Kerwin and Sarah deep clean their house in Tennessee before they move to Athens and I'm going to be packing for Meika's wedding and Jamaica so I might not make it to the library to give you all the exciting update on my life. But we'll see. Until I do though... ta ta!

Tornado Days?

Well I've been trying to post since about Tuesday night but our computer is so slow that it never lets me and the library was closed on Thursday which is one of the late nights where I can get here on time. But now it's Saturday, the library is open and I have time to sit down and post. Let's see.... I went home last weekend. It was very emotional for lots of different reasons that I don't feel like going over again because this week has been pretty good. Tuesday night we went up to Kerwin and Sarah's for supper. Melissa's parents are spending the month of March in Biloxi and they stopped by on their way down so we went up to see them. Thursday was our tornado day. You probably heard about it. There was a huge storm system come through and all the county schools closed early and so we did too. The kids were gone by noon. We ended up just getting mostly rain but south of us they got it bad. A tornado hit a high school in the southeastern part of the state and at least five kids died and maybe up to eight kids. It's really sad. So any thought I had about people being too cautious and being too quick to close schools were kind of thrown out the window. Don't get me wrong- I'm not complaining. It was great to be done early for once. Yesterday was pretty crazy. A lot of times I go to bed late on Thursday's thinking that I'll be fine cause tomorrow's Friday. But I need to learn that Friday is our huge day when all the kids come and it's absolutely nuts. But I usually survive. I have this kid in my class who, let's see- how can a put it nicely, has a severe case of childhood obesity and a pretty bad speech impetiment. He's either really funny and sweet or really annoying. No in betweens with him. He comes up to me out of the blue and says "Miss Sarah, I want to be a go getter!" It just kind of struck me funny to hear the fat kid who can't talk right be the one to tell me that. Okay my computer is about ready to kick me off so I gotta go.

I am so cool

Okay so maybe I'm not. But I just gave blood and now I have this cool neon green band around my arm instead of just a piece of gauze and clear tape. I mean, that's so boring. The green band so much better. Well I took cheesy carrots to the potluck. I made plenty so that I'd for sure have leftovers. I love cheesy carrots. Okay work story. Not the funniest one ever, but it made me laugh. Yesterday a couple of my girls were in the housekeeping area and the boys kept trying to get in. They kept messing up their stuff though and the girls didn't want them there. They told me "This is the girl's house. The boys house can be over there." So I told them that this could be the boys house too, as long as they played nice. And Jessika, who normally drives me nuts says with a big sigh "Boys just don't understand." When I asked her what they don't understand she says "Oh, just the things we do and the stuff we talk about." I tell you what that girl is wise beyond her years. I'm getting really excited about the weekend. I'm leaving Thursday just as soon as the kids are down for nap. So I'm thinking we put a little something extra in their milk at lunch time so they're out by 12:00 sharp. Or maybe we could just go ahead and put it into their juice for morning snack and I could be out of there by ten. Hmmm........

Been Awhile

Well I've felt the need to post for quite some time now, but I haven't made it to the library for awhile and the dial up we have at home is just not being very nice to me. So now I'm at the library with nothing to say really. I'm going home next weekend. Meika's showers are on the schedule as well as seeing Dusin and Mandy's new baby. I've been a little homesick since I saw his pictures and I just really want to go hold him. And I'm excited to go to Roanoke church again. I hope there's still snow on the ground. Good snow. Not gross dirty leftover snow. I mean, for years I prayed for a blizzard big enough that I could have a snow day from work. And the year I move away they finally get like three. Oh well. Maybe it will blizzard really bad while I'm up there and I'll get stuck for a couple days. Maybe not too. Tomorrow is potluck Sunday. I'm not sure what I'm going to take. Last month I was going to take those mini cheesecake things with the Nilla Wafer crust but they totally flopped and I didn't take anything. So I'll have to try and come up with a new idea this time. Okay I'm going to go now. I'm going to go to Huntsville and do a little shopping today. I'm kind of excited. Usually shopping doesn't excite me, but it's been awhile so I'm ready to go again. Hope everyone has an excellent weekend.

Another excellent weekend

Well, Thursday night I decided to go to Taylor for Kenton and Heidi's wedding. I had mapquested it awhile back and for some reason thought it was almost a 10 hour drive. But I mapquested it again on Thursday night and realized it's only about 20 more miles than Morton. So I quick packed up and then left early from work on Friday. The only thing that could have made it better is if Angie and Robey would have come. But no. They didn't. But I'm over it.
I got a new phone today. I have 15 days to change my mind if I want to. I might. I have this problem where sometimes I buy things like that too fast because I'd rather not take the time to shop around and see what all my options are. Chances are I'll end up keeping it, but we'll see. Okay I'm going to go put away dishes now. Have a good day!

Four letter words

S-N-O-W. I know, terrible isn't it? I woke up this morning to a blanket of snow. I was thrilled. Alabama natives on the other hand, overreacted. Even though the forecast said it would all be melted by midmorning (all one inch of it), they still freaked out. Grocery store shelves were seriously emptied out. Crazy people. It wasn't enough to cancel work, but we did open late. And because so many people were so afraid to go out in the horrible weather, we had 3 teachers and 9 kids. It was beautiful. I took my kids out to play in it for awhile. I didn't have a coat with me but the experience of snow is so rare for them I figured it was worth it. They were so excited about making footprints and eating it and all that good stuff. I even managed to scrape up enough for a little snowman. They didn't want to go in, but I was feeling pretty numb. So I was the mean teacher who made them stop having fun. But I'm going to go now. I'm at the library with an empty stomach and a full bladder. So I need to go take care of both.

Still Laughing

So for those of you who didn't come to Alabama this weekend, you missed out. I seriously don't think we stopped laughing the entire time. And the things that happened still make me laugh out loud. Rebekah, Sarah Laub, Gab, Erin D, Caleb and Tony managed to make it in one piece about 1:30 Saturday morning. After sitting and talking for awhile we all went to bed and decided to be up and ready to go by 11:00. I guess we were feeling ambitious and wanted to get an early start. And just to remove all questions from everyone's mind, the guys stayed at the church. (We have beds and a shower over there.) And the girls stayed in my apartment. So we got up and went to Cracker Barrel. Then we had plans to go to the US Space and Rocked Center over in Huntsville but it was a lot more expensive than we wanted to pay. So I called Mark (who lives down here and is a pilot) and he took us flying. He had to take three trips cause it was really a teeny bopper of a plane. But for those of us who had the front seat on our trips up, (me, Beks and Tony) we all got to fly the plane. Gab and Caleb were in the back seat when it was my turn to fly and they can confirm that I am in no way shape or form a daredevil. But it was pretty fun anways. Then we came back to my place and were going to go to a place that Mark told us about that portrays how Alabama used to be, but when we looked it up, it's closed between December and February. And it just was too early for supper so we went bowling for an hour. Then went to a BBQ resturant that is about as southern as you can get. It was good though. Then we came back again to play games. Then Melissa and Mark took us to this swampy, marshy place that's pretty eerie especially at night to freak us out. It worked. Then we went to Wal-Mart for brownie mix and ice cream. Then we baked the brownies and had dessert. I'm sure you all are enjoying the play by play. Sunday morning we all made pancakes and sausage. All meaning, if you had a free minute you stopped by and made a few pancakes until someone else could take over. It really was a group effort. Sunday lunch was at CasaBlanca and then sadly, everyone left. The blog really does the weekend no justice. But I had to talk about it. But my computer is about ready to turn off cause the library's closing so I gotta go. Maybe next time the rest of you can come too. Have a great day!

Hmmmmmm

Well I see that it's been a week since I've posted anything so I feel like I should be writing something but I just don't really have anything new to talk about. And I have a headache right now so it kind of hurts to think. Today was one of those days where I just kind of put myself into survival mode and hoped for the best. The afternoon was a little better than the morning, but after awhile three year olds really start to get the best of me. Today I had nine. Tomorrow I'm supposed to have 11, Thursday I'm supposed to have 10, and Friday I'm supposed to have 13. Yippee skippee. Friday is pajama day though so that's a perk. I'm really looking forward to this weekend when people come and see me. I'm not sure what we're going to do yet. I have a few ideas but we'll probably just kind of play it by ear and see what people are in the mood to do. Okay I'm going to go now. Somebody tell me a joke please. Bye.

Terribly Offended

Yesterday was Gab's birthday and being the good friend that I am I called to wish her a happy one. But she didn't answer so I sang to her on her voicemail. She e-mailed me today and said my message was a gag and that it takes talent to sing that bad. See if I ever talk to her again.

My Latest Discovery

So tonight I discovered that Alabama cops are no more merciful than Illinois cops. Although he did give me a ticket for blowing a stop sign instead of speeding. Even though I'm almost positive I stopped. And if I didn't it was the slowest roll stop you ever saw. I have never even seen a speed limit sign posted where he said I was speeding. And he followed me for over a mile way far back. And I don't even know how much the ticket is. I have to call the number he gave me to find out. It's just dumb. So to make me feel better I think you all need to come visit me the last weekend of January. For real. Come. Talk to Bekah if you want details. But you need to come.

Jean Shilove Pierre

Okay so I'm not sure how this is all going to look when I hit publish. I just learned how to post pictures tonight and between it being my first attempt and being computer illiterate, we'll see how this turns out. I had another close up picture of Shilove (pronounced She-love with the "o" pronounced like it is in stove.) modeling his new glasses which totally make him look studly but I did something and it went away and I'm not sure how to get it back. And also they didn't go in the order that I thought they were going to and I can't figure out how to get them moved to where I want them. You can laugh at me if you want. Angie did. I'm just really slow when it comes to computers. I'll get it figured out some day. Anyways, mom and dad left for Haiti this morning and took Shilove with them. It was sad but I didn't cry this time. He was awfully chatty last night. Usually he goes to sleep within about 30 seconds. But last night he laid awake and talked about all kinds of things until I pretended to be asleep. Then he was out really quick. Sigh..... I miss him.



I love to kiss his squishy cheeks but he's not too fond of it.









Our last "me and Shilove" picture at the airport this morning before he left. Pay no heed to the small mountain range that recently popped up on the left side of my nose.



His goofy personality shining through.






He really doesn't have something growing out the side of his head. But I thought he looked really cute in this picture and he just happened to be sitting in front of a lamp.

Quote by Robey

"Did you know that the root word of analytical is anal? That's me."

I have a great sister in law

So I'm going to Doc's Diner with Angie and Erin for lunch. And my car won't start. So I call my wonderful sister in law Jamie who is going to Doc's with Amy Jackson and she is willingly coming all the way out to my parents to pick me up and taking me back into town. And she will probably willingly bring me back. So now I'm sitting here waiting on her. I got my new camera and I'm planning to mess around with it and figure out how to get pictures on here but not right now. I want to post some pictures of Shilove. He's going back to Haiti tomorrow. It's very sad. They took him to the doctor for his cataracts but they can't fix his left eye because it turns out he has a detached retina. They think it used to be his good eye but then he got hit in the eye and it made the retina detatch. So we just got him some glasses with a stronger prescription and not scratched up like his other ones were. The pair he came with seemed like it would have been a pair that was thrown into a "Put your old glasses here for the poor people" box at a church or school or something. I see Jamie. I'm going to go now.