for no particular reason, it just seems that there is a certain peace in my life lately and I am so grateful for that. Happy 4th of July!
I am looking out my big bedroom windows enjoying the fireworks from the comfort of my bed. The cats don't seem particular keen on the explosions, but it will likely begin to subside in another half hour or so.
Hannah got her braces off this past Thursday! I did a before and after photo at the orthodontist on my phone and have to get the photo off of the card. There is still a bit of cement that needs to be cleaned up, but it just so happens that she has her 6th month cleaning on Wednesday and they will polish them up beau-tee-full!
After finishing up with the appointment, Hannah and I went to visit Heather for 2 days and dropped off Hannah's dresser and my old bed headboard and footboard for her. I loved my old bed, but we moved up to a king size bed and that was that. I had kept the bed because I couldn't bear to part with it, but when I showed Heather the dresser, I decided to give her the bed as well. I knew she would enjoy it and appreciate it. Since I had to bring the dresser to her in Keith's truck, it was nothing to add the bed to the load. We used the headboard on her bed and the footboard as a headboard on her guest bed since neither bed had the bottom bracket attachments for a footboard already. It worked out great.
We had a really nice visit with Heather though. Hannah enjoyed playing with Copper, Heather's dog, and Blue, Heather's mom's dog and Roxie, Heather's bunny. On Friday in the early afternoon, Hannah and I took a trip to Archiver's since it is only about 30 minutes from her house. Heather had to work from home and it gave her a bit of time with us out of her hair. By the time we finished and ate lunch, it was just about quitting time for Heather. We went to see Eclipse and it was "eh".
I'm going to try my luck with teaching SDU again. I was assigned to two Michaels for their start up of the program nationally. Since I was certified to teach a year ago to roll out the same program at AC Moore, but never got that off the ground, I have been hoping for a chance to share my hobby with others. Have my fingers crossed that this will go better. The store manager was excited to meet me and is happy to have the program, so that was a good sign at least.
It seems like the fireworks are starting to dwindle. I've been having some cold type symptoms and am ready to call it a night.
Sunday, July 04, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Keeping Up
Just a quick note here before falling asleep. It has been a bad night for my allergies and I'm ready to turn in.
Hannah and I had a wonderful time visiting Florida last week. She had a lot of fun at VBS with my mom and her friend Mary. I managed to get in some time with my friends and even had some down time, which was nice. The 4 days went by much too quickly and the drive coming home took longer than it should have, but overall, it was a great trip.
Hannah has enjoyed the first two days of dance & drill team camp. She said that all of the girls are very nice and friendly, and that even though everyone has their own little "groups", everyone still talks to everyone else and there aren't the divisions she felt in football cheer. I was happy to hear that.
I had an uneventful few hours at work. One appointment after being out for over two weeks! I have gotten more requests since leaving the office today, but who knows how that will work out for me. I am happy to try to schedule one day at a time, in advance, instead of running around like I did in the previous summers, trying to fit in a person a day.
Other than that, I've been doing some organization projects in the scrapbook room and have been pasting down all of the odds and ends in my memorabilia stash. Stray tickets, programs and papers that were getting shuffled from one place to the next have been put down on 12x12 paper and awaiting either further embellishment or simply a spot in one of the scrapbooks. I have avoided the scrapbook room because the clutter overwhelmed me, so I am taking care of that. It was a blessing to finally have a room all for myself and my things, so it was a shame to feel frustration when I walked in there. I can see things transforming, 15 minutes at a time.
Hannah and I had a wonderful time visiting Florida last week. She had a lot of fun at VBS with my mom and her friend Mary. I managed to get in some time with my friends and even had some down time, which was nice. The 4 days went by much too quickly and the drive coming home took longer than it should have, but overall, it was a great trip.
Hannah has enjoyed the first two days of dance & drill team camp. She said that all of the girls are very nice and friendly, and that even though everyone has their own little "groups", everyone still talks to everyone else and there aren't the divisions she felt in football cheer. I was happy to hear that.
I had an uneventful few hours at work. One appointment after being out for over two weeks! I have gotten more requests since leaving the office today, but who knows how that will work out for me. I am happy to try to schedule one day at a time, in advance, instead of running around like I did in the previous summers, trying to fit in a person a day.
Other than that, I've been doing some organization projects in the scrapbook room and have been pasting down all of the odds and ends in my memorabilia stash. Stray tickets, programs and papers that were getting shuffled from one place to the next have been put down on 12x12 paper and awaiting either further embellishment or simply a spot in one of the scrapbooks. I have avoided the scrapbook room because the clutter overwhelmed me, so I am taking care of that. It was a blessing to finally have a room all for myself and my things, so it was a shame to feel frustration when I walked in there. I can see things transforming, 15 minutes at a time.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Let Summer Vacation Begin!!!
Hannah finished with an A/B honor roll average in all of her classes for the year as well as for the grading period. She scored in the top percentile on the end of grade exams for the state as well. So, good end to the school year! I think she had a pretty great time at school this year. She is definitely her own person and knows what she is about.
Since our house is the typical hang out and she has friends spending the night more often, we decided to "bite the bullet", so to speak, and get her the loft bed that we have been eyeing at Ikea for almost a year now. The difference it has made in her floor space has been so well worth it and the extra drawer space she has has really helped her with her organizing, keeping clutter to a minimum, and keeping her room clean. We put it all together last weekend and she has proven that she can maintain things much better now.
I finished up work, but now am getting stray emails requesting appointments. I've pretty well put them all on hold until the end of the month when Hannah goes to dance camp. She and I will be going to Florida next week for VBS at my mom's church and I will catch up with friends. This week we are just going to take it easy and enjoy the ability to not have any demands on our time.
Heather came for the weekend and we went to see Cavo, Lifehouse, and Daughtry on Friday. What an awesome concert. We had a lot of fun together as well, just being together.
Yesterday in the later afternoon, Keith, Hannah and I went to see Karate Kid. It is so hard to believe it has been 26 years since the original came out and that I was just 14 then. It was almost surreal watching the remake with my 13 year old. I was telling her funny stories about going to see the first with my grandmother and aunt and how my grandmother was yelling at the screen during the final fight scene, shouting advice to Ralph Macchio.
Keith and I are in the process of re-financing our house. We purchased the home almost 5 years ago (!!!!) (It's so hard to believe) with intentions of moving back to Florida after Keith re-established himself with the company here. Now that we have settled in, and she Hannah will be entering high school in just another year, we have decided to stay if we are able. Since we figured the move here was just a blip on the radar, we financed with a 5 year adjustable option. No point in paying extra interest if we weren't going to stick around. With the refinance we snagged a lower fixed interest rate and will come out on top. If Keith is transferred, we will deal with that when the time comes, but for now we are calling this home.
Since our house is the typical hang out and she has friends spending the night more often, we decided to "bite the bullet", so to speak, and get her the loft bed that we have been eyeing at Ikea for almost a year now. The difference it has made in her floor space has been so well worth it and the extra drawer space she has has really helped her with her organizing, keeping clutter to a minimum, and keeping her room clean. We put it all together last weekend and she has proven that she can maintain things much better now.
I finished up work, but now am getting stray emails requesting appointments. I've pretty well put them all on hold until the end of the month when Hannah goes to dance camp. She and I will be going to Florida next week for VBS at my mom's church and I will catch up with friends. This week we are just going to take it easy and enjoy the ability to not have any demands on our time.
Heather came for the weekend and we went to see Cavo, Lifehouse, and Daughtry on Friday. What an awesome concert. We had a lot of fun together as well, just being together.
Yesterday in the later afternoon, Keith, Hannah and I went to see Karate Kid. It is so hard to believe it has been 26 years since the original came out and that I was just 14 then. It was almost surreal watching the remake with my 13 year old. I was telling her funny stories about going to see the first with my grandmother and aunt and how my grandmother was yelling at the screen during the final fight scene, shouting advice to Ralph Macchio.
Keith and I are in the process of re-financing our house. We purchased the home almost 5 years ago (!!!!) (It's so hard to believe) with intentions of moving back to Florida after Keith re-established himself with the company here. Now that we have settled in, and she Hannah will be entering high school in just another year, we have decided to stay if we are able. Since we figured the move here was just a blip on the radar, we financed with a 5 year adjustable option. No point in paying extra interest if we weren't going to stick around. With the refinance we snagged a lower fixed interest rate and will come out on top. If Keith is transferred, we will deal with that when the time comes, but for now we are calling this home.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Happy Hump Day
or at least it will be in another half hour+. I had today off, it was pretty much my "official" start to summer hours. I have an appointment to go in for tomorrow and Thursday, but just for a little while. Nothing like I've been doing.
Hannah and a friend made a video tonight for extra credit for math class. It was really strange and funny. I hope to be able to post it later on so you can see my wacky daughter in action.
Counting down now, just one more week and a day of school remaining for Hannah. I believe she will finish with a strong report card.
Threw my back out yesterday moving a planter. I pushed it out from under the front porch so it could be rained on, moving it back I must have twisted wrong and POP! I was down for the count for the rest of the day and the beginning of this morning. After laying here watching one and a half bad Lifetime movies, I decided I needed to try to get up, showered and out of the house before I went nuts. I ended up going to the mall because I knew I could get a short massage there without an appointment and without it costing much. That seemed to help A LOT. I am still stiff, but world's better than yesterday.
We did get quite a bit of rain all day yesterday and then this morning. It sounds like it's storming again. Rumbling, distant thunder.
Hannah and a friend made a video tonight for extra credit for math class. It was really strange and funny. I hope to be able to post it later on so you can see my wacky daughter in action.
Counting down now, just one more week and a day of school remaining for Hannah. I believe she will finish with a strong report card.
Threw my back out yesterday moving a planter. I pushed it out from under the front porch so it could be rained on, moving it back I must have twisted wrong and POP! I was down for the count for the rest of the day and the beginning of this morning. After laying here watching one and a half bad Lifetime movies, I decided I needed to try to get up, showered and out of the house before I went nuts. I ended up going to the mall because I knew I could get a short massage there without an appointment and without it costing much. That seemed to help A LOT. I am still stiff, but world's better than yesterday.
We did get quite a bit of rain all day yesterday and then this morning. It sounds like it's storming again. Rumbling, distant thunder.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Freedom isn't free
Thinking of those who have sacrificed and paid the ultimate price for our freedom this weekend.
It has been hard to post lately, just too nutty between work, running Hannah around, keeping up with the housework and errands... Life is good and today I had my first true day off in a long time. No work, no appointments, no place I had to be. It was great. I was actually giddy because I finally had a day to do whatever! I ended up laying around in bed too long watching HGTV with the pets, then headed out for lunch and to hit some thrift stores to see if I could score anything funky to decorate the back patio. Nope. But it was still fun hunting around. I went to the Habitat Re-Store, Salvation Army and two consignment stores before coming home to meet Hannah.
Next week, I will begin just working for community appointments. That should give me a quiet summer until Hannah starts back to school. She still has about a week and a half before finishing up.
Speaking of Hannah, she did great on her interim reports and scored in the top 25% of the state on all of her EOG (end of grade) exams. A "4" is the highest that can be scored on the tests (meaning highest of the 4 quartiles). She got her Dance & Drill team "spirit wear" yesterday and was happy to wear her new t-shirt and sweatshirt today.
It has been stiflingly hot. In the low 90s. The pool opened last weekend, so we managed to go once this week.
Last weekend, we went to see Heather at her parents' beach house on Sunset Beach (NC). I wish we had more time because we didn't arrive until almost 9 (since we were waiting for Hannah to get out of school) and then we had to leave after lunch on Sunday to get back. Saturday she had a cheer competition in Myrtle Beach (SC) which is about an hour from Heather's parents, so we did that in the morning, went to lunch, then Keith and Hannah had some beach time until it got dark. After basketball cheer season ended at school, Hannah began practicing and participating with both of the competition teams at the gym. The teams took 1st and 3rd in their divisions. The gym will wrap up with the end of the year "show" the day after Father's Day.
Along with Hannah's other activities, she has put in her month's notice for horseback riding. She hasn't wanted to go as often and I am not going to push her. I really feel like the experience has had a positive impact on her and hope that she may pick it back up again. I realize that she has had more going on and is involved in more activities than most kids, so I understand that she has probably just gotten tired of being overbooked. It will work out fine since the summer isn't as structured for us and she would probably be missing her lessons more often than not.
Dance & Drill will require 3 days of practice and then performances at Saturday home games, so she is going to be taking on more with that role, plus she is still planning on cheering at the gym. That is probably more than enough if she doesn't take on anything additional. She still loves the Chun Kuk Do and "cheer funk" dance class she is taking at the gym, but will have to put those activities on hold, most likely, during dance season at school.
Lots of stuff about Hannah lately. Trying to think if I have anything exciting to talk about in regards to myself... Nope, can't really think of anything. I think I live vicariously through my daughter and that is enough for me lately.
I sat down and scrapbooked quite a bit tonight. I think I was able to sit and enjoy myself since I didn't have a million other things I had to do earlier like I have most days lately. I just grabbed an envelope of photos without even looking at the pictures, and then set about scrapping them! It was fun because the envelope ended up containing pictures from when Elissa came to visit in 2008 and there were adorable pictures of our girls together getting makeovers and going shopping. I also had photos in there of Heather and I when we went to the beach last year! My plan is to continue to do as much as I can over the summer so I don't have all of the stacks.
I don't feel "guilty" like they say, for having stacks of photos waiting for a home. I really use my scrapbooks as my family photo albums and want to put all of the photos I have on paper, so I don't feel like I need to limit myself to one picture for each event. It takes me longer this way and it may not always be as clean and uncluttered as a result, but I like having the many pictures chronicled and put away. I can remember a time, not too long ago, when I was actually just waiting for the next batch of photos to come back from the store so I could scrapbook because I was completely up to date on my projects.
I've fallen behind since moving here. It seems like with a house that is twice the size of my old house and a daughter that is now 5 years older that it takes me 10 times longer to do all of my domestic junk. I do flutter with the FLY lady, so I have a system that works for me, but geez.
Well, I am going to head off to bed. I am up late since I was lazy all morning. I hope everyone enjoys their holiday weekend and doesn't forget why we have Monday off.
It has been hard to post lately, just too nutty between work, running Hannah around, keeping up with the housework and errands... Life is good and today I had my first true day off in a long time. No work, no appointments, no place I had to be. It was great. I was actually giddy because I finally had a day to do whatever! I ended up laying around in bed too long watching HGTV with the pets, then headed out for lunch and to hit some thrift stores to see if I could score anything funky to decorate the back patio. Nope. But it was still fun hunting around. I went to the Habitat Re-Store, Salvation Army and two consignment stores before coming home to meet Hannah.
Next week, I will begin just working for community appointments. That should give me a quiet summer until Hannah starts back to school. She still has about a week and a half before finishing up.
Speaking of Hannah, she did great on her interim reports and scored in the top 25% of the state on all of her EOG (end of grade) exams. A "4" is the highest that can be scored on the tests (meaning highest of the 4 quartiles). She got her Dance & Drill team "spirit wear" yesterday and was happy to wear her new t-shirt and sweatshirt today.
It has been stiflingly hot. In the low 90s. The pool opened last weekend, so we managed to go once this week.
Last weekend, we went to see Heather at her parents' beach house on Sunset Beach (NC). I wish we had more time because we didn't arrive until almost 9 (since we were waiting for Hannah to get out of school) and then we had to leave after lunch on Sunday to get back. Saturday she had a cheer competition in Myrtle Beach (SC) which is about an hour from Heather's parents, so we did that in the morning, went to lunch, then Keith and Hannah had some beach time until it got dark. After basketball cheer season ended at school, Hannah began practicing and participating with both of the competition teams at the gym. The teams took 1st and 3rd in their divisions. The gym will wrap up with the end of the year "show" the day after Father's Day.
Along with Hannah's other activities, she has put in her month's notice for horseback riding. She hasn't wanted to go as often and I am not going to push her. I really feel like the experience has had a positive impact on her and hope that she may pick it back up again. I realize that she has had more going on and is involved in more activities than most kids, so I understand that she has probably just gotten tired of being overbooked. It will work out fine since the summer isn't as structured for us and she would probably be missing her lessons more often than not.
Dance & Drill will require 3 days of practice and then performances at Saturday home games, so she is going to be taking on more with that role, plus she is still planning on cheering at the gym. That is probably more than enough if she doesn't take on anything additional. She still loves the Chun Kuk Do and "cheer funk" dance class she is taking at the gym, but will have to put those activities on hold, most likely, during dance season at school.
Lots of stuff about Hannah lately. Trying to think if I have anything exciting to talk about in regards to myself... Nope, can't really think of anything. I think I live vicariously through my daughter and that is enough for me lately.
I sat down and scrapbooked quite a bit tonight. I think I was able to sit and enjoy myself since I didn't have a million other things I had to do earlier like I have most days lately. I just grabbed an envelope of photos without even looking at the pictures, and then set about scrapping them! It was fun because the envelope ended up containing pictures from when Elissa came to visit in 2008 and there were adorable pictures of our girls together getting makeovers and going shopping. I also had photos in there of Heather and I when we went to the beach last year! My plan is to continue to do as much as I can over the summer so I don't have all of the stacks.
I don't feel "guilty" like they say, for having stacks of photos waiting for a home. I really use my scrapbooks as my family photo albums and want to put all of the photos I have on paper, so I don't feel like I need to limit myself to one picture for each event. It takes me longer this way and it may not always be as clean and uncluttered as a result, but I like having the many pictures chronicled and put away. I can remember a time, not too long ago, when I was actually just waiting for the next batch of photos to come back from the store so I could scrapbook because I was completely up to date on my projects.
I've fallen behind since moving here. It seems like with a house that is twice the size of my old house and a daughter that is now 5 years older that it takes me 10 times longer to do all of my domestic junk. I do flutter with the FLY lady, so I have a system that works for me, but geez.
Well, I am going to head off to bed. I am up late since I was lazy all morning. I hope everyone enjoys their holiday weekend and doesn't forget why we have Monday off.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
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