Crazy Busy

This past week has been crazy busy. Even though Monday was a holiday it still felt like a long week! I spent the week at work closing out the books and getting my paperwork finished and packed off to be audited. I worked late most nights and then had guilt for not being home in time to make supper before eight o'clock, if at all. We went out for my birthday Tuesday, but decided to postpone going to see Night at the Museum 2 until I was sure I wouldn't fall asleep during the movie. I'm looking forward to a long summer nap...

Katie's New Old Car

Miss Katie finally has a car!

Great Place to Live

I think Donelson, TN, is the most fun place to live. Tonight David and I went to the Grand Ole Opry to see Steve Martin's debut Opry performance. (He is a darn good banjo player!) Not to mention hearing some really good music from the likes of Riders in the Sky, Marty Stuart, Vince Gill, Amy Grant and lots of other amazing artists. Even if you aren't a country fan, there is just something about hearing "Tennessee Waltz" sung by the original artist. Then after we picked Mike up downtown, we came back to our part of town and went to Shoney's for a late night dinner. (Normally we do Steak and Shake for late nights, but decided to do something different.) About halfway through dinner Kenney Chesney came in with some people and they sat down about three booths away from us. All this within 4 miles of home. Nifty!

Mike is Driving

Mike got his driving permit last Friday. He has been behind the wheel every since. We are finally car shopping for Katie, so hopefully she will be driving herself wherever her heart desires very soon. (If you know of a nice car for sale, let me know!)

My Brilliant Children

Here's a quick rundown of end of the year honors:
Katie graduated with honors from McGavock High School last weekend.

Mike finished his freshman year at Nashville School of the Arts with wonderful grades and the award for the top student in Music Theory I.

Nicholas finisehd 5th grade at Two Rivers and was the student of the year from his class and won the Outstanding Math Student award and had perfect attendance and straight A's all year.

Hurray!

Graduation party webcam

For those of you who'd like to join the Graduation Party Sunday afternoon but won't be able to make it, we will be setting up a Katie Cam. Right now I can pick you up on Skype or Messenger. I'm working on a couple of other options. I'll keep you posted.

A helpful note for job seekers

If you use the phrase "please overlook my resume" or any variations that involves the use of the work "overlook" we will do exactly that. We will be happy to look over, review, peruse, consider, analyze, or just a simple read.

Prom pictures

For those of you who haven't already seen them on Facebook, here are some prom pictures of Katie and her boyfriend, Laurington (Lo).

Good Formula

Shingles + mumu = comfort

Shingles...and I don't mean on the roof

I'm trying to decide if taking a sick day off and laying in bed on a rainy day is worth the pain of shingles. At the moment I'm thinking not, but maybe after the Lortab presecription is ready...

Better than backward pants

So, does anyone remember my backwards pants incident that happened several months ago? Well I finally topped it today. I was in a rush to get out of the door this morning and when I got to school I was walking in with a co-worker and realized that I could see my shoulder pad out of the corner of my eye. I reached down to tuck it in when to my surprise I discovered I was walking into work with my shirt on inside out. The greatest part was having at least two (short) conversations with people who didn't appear to notice my dilemma. As someone pointed out, at least I didn't wait and notice it around 2 o'clock!

Notes From the Office-April 24th

I put riddles on my door every week, and the one from this week was, "What is red and smells like blue paint?" The funniest answer by far was the student who said, "I know-it's perfume! Because it rhymes."

New York 2009

What a fun weekend. I am sitting in my friend Ginny's living room after a couple of days of stiching temari with friends and laughing ourselves silly. Life is good.

Notes from the office-April 10, 2009

As an elementary school secretary I have lots of good stories to share. I'll try to start posting a few so you can get a view of life in the office.

This morning a student came in the office crying. When I asked her what had happened she told me she hit her nose another student's head. I asked her how his head was and she replied, "Hard!"

I also had a student come in during lunch and announce that he had a fever. I asked him why he thought he had a fever and his response was that he had gone swimming in the lake over the weekend and touched a fish and it made him sick. I told him I didn't think that would make him sick, so he told me that he also touched some fruit on a stick. I took his temperature and he was just fine. This was the same child who earlier in the year came in the office and told me that he was sick. I asked him how he knew and he told me that he "licked a nut."

Oh, and one final image for you. A child came in from PE and had a bump above his eye where he had been hit with a basketball. I was out of ice and alone in the office, so I grabbed the first thing I laid my hand on in the fridge and sent him back to class holding a pudding cup on his eye. Hey, it worked and I did call his mom and warn her that I had made him a pudding head.

April Fool's Day!

So for April Fool's day Katie dyed her hair brown. Go figure.

Perfect Prom Dress

You know the prom dress is perfect when she wears it around the house, just because she loves it. The swishing when she walks and sighing contentedly when she sits down are also clues.

24 Hours

I know that God put only 24 hours in the day, so if I can't do everything on my chore list in one day I'm the one who needs to make a change, right?

Some days I'd really rather stay in bed and pull the covers over my head than be a semi-responsible adult!

2009, More or Less

It seems to me that often times the resolutions we make to start a new year are all about things we do or don't want to do. Those declarations are only half of the equation. I can't commit to doing more of one thing without doing less of something else. With that in mind, I'm working on my list of resolutions for 2009, more or less.

More going to bed on time and less playing games on Save the Planet.
More time reading my Bible and less time reading murder mysteries. (There are plenty of mysteries in the Bible to keep me going.)
More water and less soda.
More fruits and veggies and less of all that other stuff.
More time with friends and less worrying about how the house looks.
More walking and less sitting.
More blogging and less just thinking about it.

That should do for a start!

David's Christmas Wagon

David got a dumping yard wagon for Christmas. It was the first time in many years that a wagon was under the tree, but I think it has been the most fun of all. David, Nick, Mike and Katie's boyfriend, Lo, all had a hand in putting it together. There was lots of male bonding while they had to drill extra holes, follow instructions and for some reason unknown to most woman it is required that if the pneumatic tires smell really bad you have to keep passing them around and say, "Wow, those smell horrible! Here, sniff them." I heard rumor of tire licking, but I'm hoping that was just fiction.

Now that the wagon is finished, the boys (all of them) have given each other rides, dumped one another in the floor, and had much amusment using the wagon. David was going to put it outside, but it is so much fun to watch them we've decided to give it a bit longer in the house.

Yo-Yo Ma

Katie and I got to see Yo-Yo Ma perform with the Nashville Symphony last night. Her school got some free tickets to distribute to students and she was fortunate enough to get a pair. We really enjoyed the opportunity. It was the first full performance I had the opportunity to see. I've been to a practice or two on field trips, but this was part of the classical series. The Schermerhorn hall is an extraordinary facility and so beautiful. Also extremely cold! All the performers were wonderful, but Yo-Yo Ma was a delight to watch as well as hear. No only is he a fabulous cellist, he is quite an actor as well. All in all it was a wonderful evening.