Just a Little Note...

Matt and I are headed out this evening for dinner. I am really looking forward to it! He has worked really hard this week and is loving his new job. If I failed to mention it before, Matt is now working as part of the knee design team (as opposed to his previous work on the hip design team). He is still working for the same company, but he's on a different team. Someone on the knee team is moving over to marketing, and Matt was asked if he'd be interested in switching to knees. He is loving it and the challenge (and familiarity--he did work with knees in grad school) of having a full plate and knocking things off his "to do" list left and right. :)

We are also counting down to our THIRD anniversary on... Wednesday! I can hardly believe it's been three years already! And that we've been together five years. I know 5 is small compared to many couples in my family (being the youngest and all), but five seems like such a big, grown up number. :) A year (okay, 10 months) of dating, 1 year of engagement (alright, 54 weeks ;)), and now 3 WONDERFUL years of marriage. To celebrate our anniversary, we're going to the beach for a LONG weekend later this month. We're actually getting to stay in the same condo as we did on our honeymoon! Our intention is not to relive our honeymoon, but to build more sweet memories in a place we love. It's perfect this time of year, and we are realllllly looking forward to relaxing and getting away together.

Sweet Samantha is sleeping beside me on the couch. She loves this time of year with a touch of coolness in the air. I think she could stay out playing and patrolling "her" backyard for hours in the fall. All the squirrels scurrying about for acorns also provide her quite the amusement. :)

Alright, Matt should be home any minute, so I ought to get ready to go. We hope you have a great weekend!

Love,
Becca

It's Been Awhile....

..whew ! August 23 was my last post. Eek!

I guess you could say things have been pretty busy around here. I haven't been able to do any more embroidering or sewing since TS Fay came through and I had those 2 days off for the storms. But I am hoping to this weekend, especially because I have some more gifts to make. :) And the fabric is already picked out, so that helps a LOT!

It has been SUPER busy at school. On top of keeping a team of 6 (3 brand new to our school) going, I have my own classroom things to keep running. Tomorrow night is open house, so that adds a whole other element to the current stress level. And then Monday is our last day to enter progress report grades. In the past, we've done them by hand (on carbon copy forms). But this year we have a fancy schmancy new program that we have to use. I need to grade some reading and writing assignments, and then I should be good to go. We had a slow start with reading since we didn't have our whole kids (just TEs and student books). And the pace I think is just a lot faster than lots of my new-to-my-school students are used to. I was trying to give them a chance to complete their folder work, so I wouldn't have to enter incompletes for assignments. And then writing has been delayed because we JUST got the writing criteria finalized/approved yesterday afternoon! Ay ay ay!

Last night I got home at 6, and tonight I got home at 6:30. While I have a GREAT class (really, I do!), it's still a long day when the alarm goes off at 5:30, you chase 8 year-olds around all day, and then stay in your room until 6:30. Matt is oh-so-sweetly picking up our favorite Chinese on his way home tonight. Yum!

It's amazing the things that fall by the wayside when your day is filled up with work. You know, things like:

• laundry (especially ironing... but really, it's not AWFUL... yet)
• **depositing my paycheck that I received Sept. 1**
• vacuuming (and getting a replacement belt for the vacuum, because I think mine will wear through ANY day now)
• grocery shopping/meal planning
• walking the dog
• sleep

You get the idea. ;) Then you add the WONDERFUL addition of our newest niece, Isabella Rose, to the mix, and you have a FULL plate! On top of all that, we drove to SC last weekend to meet Isabella. :) We wouldn't have wanted it any other way, but I didn't get anything done around the house. I was "lucky" do get my grading done in the car and figure out what I was teaching for Monday on Sunday night!

So, I think you have a snapshot of our life right now. There have been some other confounding factors that makes it seem like that balls we're trying to juggle are actually dropping left and right, but we know Who's really catching them--and we're unspeakably thankful to know Who really has it all in control (we'd be in SO much trouble if I was truly in control, as I'm so apt to think I am). Hopefully those things will settle out in the next couple weeks and with that will go a huge load we've been carrying.

Thanks to everyone who's been praying and encouraging us through this absolutely crazy time!

Love,
Becca

Gifts and Samantha

We are expecting the arrival of our newest niece, Isabella Rose, in a little over a month! I have had a couple little projects in mind for her, but I was holding out until my order of the Husqvarna 4D embroidery software came in. Well, now it doesn't look as though that will happen before I go back to school. So, I decided to go ahead and sew some steps of the projects, and I'll have to go back and embroider later. Isabella's nursery is decorated with sweet ladybugs, so I made a coordinating set of burp clothes to go along with that theme.

You'll have to stay tuned to see what I embroider on them (eventually.... when my software arrives!)

Secondly, Samantha received a really fun gift from my parents. :) It's a huge black bear stuffed animal--only it doesn't have stuffing (except for the head) and it has a squeaker in each leg and its head!

We were sure she would have it torn open in a matter of minutes. But she's never had a toy this big before, and she's been treating it very differently! Sure, she shakes it and bites at it sometimes. She looked like she thought she'd REALLY caught something when we first gave it to her. But now it's like it's her buddy!

We just might need to come up with a name for it with the way she's keeping it around! :) Such a sweet puppy. :)

DONE!

I'm alive, I promise. Just recovering from the baby shower and the end of the school year! :)

And now, trying to determine with Matt which contractor to use to replace our HVAC. Right about now, I wish I had a "choose your own adventure" book. It would be entitled The Amazing Air Conditioner Adventure. On about page 10 or so, it would give you the option of contractor 1 (turn to page 11), who installs a brand with the lesser reputation but the 99 year condenser warranty, 2 years of free servicing 2x/year, and proclaims to pull permits and have the municipal building inspector come inspect the finished job; or contractor 2 (turn to page 25), who quotes you on a superly efficient unit with a better reputation and seems more professional and thorough. I would read ahead and see how each contractor panned out, and then go back and make the right decision.

But, there's not an HVAC choose your own adventure book. I believe we are about to choose our own adventure indeed, don't get me wrong. I just hope the adventure is one we're pleased with in the end! Does anybody have a "best contractor" detecting device we could borrow?

One More Day!

Tomorrow is the LAST day of school!! I can hardly believe it!


I can't wait to join Sammy as we recently found her.... sleeping in, here I come!

Out of My Mind!

• 2 half days left with the kids (where has the time gone??)
• the kids did so well with our "picture pet show" today
• they were GREAT during the end of the year party and class awards ceremony
• I am officially (kinda sorta... it goes into effect the coming school year, but I have the contract!) tenured! Woo hoo! I am on "professional services contract" (i.e. tenure) as of the 08-09 school year! What a cool blessing! :)
• I am so out of my mind with end of school stuff that I cannot for the life of me find our tax refund check--great, huh? Thankfully, if I can't find it after some more hunting, the IRS is kind enough to issue a replacement check so we can still get our money back. Whew!
• I can't wait for next week when this year will be over and I can feel sane again (no wise-cracks about my sanity, please)! ;)
  

8 and counting....

There are now EIGHT days of school left. And we have no more full weeks. This coming week is only 4 days (Monday off for Memorial Day), and the following week has only one full day (Monday) with three early release days (T-Th). After that, I have only 2 days of inservice (Fri. and Mon.), followed by a two week break, and then one week of summer institute.

I cannot BELIEVE this school year is winding down to a close. It's probably been my hardest year, but not for any "how to teach" reasons. More for "other hats teachers have to wear" and my-heart-breaking-over-things-some-students-go-through reasons. So, it's been emotionally exhausting although very rewarding. I feel guilty for saying I'm looking forward to summer vacation--I don't want to be the kind of teacher who counts down and can't wait to be rid of her students. It's not that I can't wait to be rid of them... my counting down is more like counting down to sleeping in and moreso to my heart hopefully having a bit of a respite so I can do it all again next year just as whole-heartedly and without holding back. These kids NEED to be loved fiercely, and I need a refill before I can do that again.

So, we're off for a mini "heart filling up" Memorial Day weekend, mostly just relaxing here in town ($4/gallon for gas?!?!) . But we are REALLY looking forward to it. We both made it through big weeks (big meeting for Matt Friday, last full week of school--with lots of testing and FCAT scores released and catching up from being gone 3 days for the wedding--for me), and we are ready to celebrate. :)

Have a great long weekend!

Itchy Scratchy

I've been really itchy the past few days and trying to figure out why. At first I thought it was because our weather changed back to cooler, more dry air. Then I thought maybe it was post-FCAT skin disruptions (when I'm stressed it usually manifests itself after the fact with eczema or the skin on the palm side of my fingers bubbling and peeling--lovely, right?). But I think I finally figured out the true source this evening!

Last time I bought detergent, the store only had a new "concentrated" form of All available. I didn't really think anything of it other than, "Is this the scent I like?" and "Why can't they just ever leave things alone?!" I only recently used up my last bottle of "regular" All and had to switch to the new concentrated bottle. It completely coincides with me being reallllllly itchy and developing a rash on my legs (more lovely details for you!). Sounds like classic Guilford skin, doesn't it?

So, I guess if they only make All concentrated now, we try All free and clear. If that doesn't do it.... I don't know what to do! But All free and clear has been working for Brad (is that 2x concentrated now too, Joy? Is Brad still okay with it?) last I asked. Hopefully it will work for me too!

I'll keep you posted. ;)

P.S. Tomorrow we are going on a field trip.... (click to see their webpage)

Halfway Through

After tomorrow we will be over halfway through with FCAT testing--hooray!

The kids have done a great job so far. I see many of them using test taking strategies we have talked about (reading the comprehension questions before the reading passage so they know what to look for in the passage, "retaking" the test when they have extra time, underlining important words in questions, etc.). No one has run out of time either, which is good. :) They have finished the SSS (Sunshine State Standards) reading sessions, tomorrow is both SSS math sessions, and then next week we have one session each of reading and math for the NRT (norm referenced test). Busy, busy! Then it's two weeks til spring break and Hilton Head with the fam! WOO HOO!

During our "down time" these testing weeks (after tests and on days we don't have tests), we are reading through Mr. Popper's Penguins. Every year I've done this unit during FCAT, the class has loved it. But this year's class REALLY loves it. They beg me to keep reading and are SUPER enthusiastic about it. It makes it extra fun for me. :) We are also writing poetry, and if their brains seem need some recuperation time before we dig into penguins and poetry, I do some step-by-step drawing with them (I still *distinctly* recall Mrs. Love doing some step-by-step drawings with us in first grade, and I teach my kids some of those *same* drawings!). Yesterday we did a frog, turtle, and bunny. :)

Samantha is asleep on the couch across from me, and Matt is playing one of his games for a little bit. He took the last of the leaf bags down for our trash pick up yesterday--hooray!

Last weekend we had the sweet treat of a visit from Dad and Mom. It was much needed! The distance has been wearing on me, and we LOVED seeing them and spending time with them. Their time here involved wrinkle-free clothes (Mom caught me up on some ironing), remote controlled cars (Matt got one before Christmas with some e-bucks, it's like Monopoly money from his company you can trade for real $$, and has wanted to show Dad ever since), fan checking (the light control of our remote died :-(), file transferring (a new-to-us computer), and fabric hunting (for a casserole tote to match the apron), among other things. :) I'm glad Hilton Head is less than a month away. You'd think about 2.5 years after I moved (how can I have been gone that long???), it would get easier. In some ways it does, but it still go through cycles of aching for home more than usual. Ugh. We have lots of opportunities to go home coming up though--Ruthie's wedding, our usual July trip, then we'll be in SC in September, back to TN in November, and both in December. Whew. Matt wants to try to fit in a trip home for the big football game, but I'm just not sure we can make that work this year. I do, however, REALLY want to try to get our condo for our anniversary in October. But we need to go to St. Augustine or Ormond Beach or something between now and then. Maybe some O-town action to see Uncle Randy and Aunt Janie, maybe even a jaunt down to see Kim and the kids (?). I don't know yet what my summer looks like. I know I have summer institute the end of June, and Mom is hoping to come visit this summer. We are getting a new reading curriculum, so I know some time will be spent getting acquainted with it and determining how that affects our new writing curriculum we wrote last year. And I hear we might be making changes to our math pacing, so I don't know what summer committees will look like yet.

Honestly at the moment I am just TIRED. This is the first night this week I did not fall asleep at 9, but it doesn't really count because I feel asleep from about 4:30-5:30. :) I'm EXHAUSTED--and I'm not even the one taking the FCAT tests! And honestly, when I'm missing home, being tired makes me more emotional than usual. So, sorry for this steam of consciousness update. I'm just missing everyone and wanted to catch you up. I wish I had something more interesting to write about, but we're just kinda plugging along right now. :) We miss our family and friends very much and really do welcome you for a visit ANYtime!

I should go check on that hubby o'mine. He wanted to watch the AI results on Tivo before bed... :)

Love,
Becca

Yes, Virginia...

...Matt & Becca DO have grass.

Errr, well, okay. Matt & Becca have grassy spots. :)

On Sunday we ate lunch on the lanai (which I cleaned on Saturday while Matt picked kumquats). Sitting out there and having the lanai all cleaned up made me wish the yard was cleaned up too. After lunch I decided to begin raking. You might think "palm tree" when you think Florida, and while we do have a palm tree, we live in the more northern part of Florida where you have plenty of pines and other coniferous and some deciduous tress as well. When I saw year yard nearly 2 years ago for the first time, it did not send the message "days' worth of raking and bagging leaves." Oh, but it does now. :)

While Matt picked more little orange fruits on Sunday afternoon, I raked and bagged 7 bags worth of leaves and pine needles. Seven. That might not sound like a lot to people with large lots, but in Florida? Small lot, palm tree Florida? I'm not kidding! And that was less than 1/2 the yard! I won't admit how long the leaves had been piling up (I don't know the last time I raked, but I DID mow last year.... does that count?) , but I had just had it. This afternoon I raked and bagged 5 more bags. The whole back yard (except for the little corner outside our window, which I left because it was dark/for comparison's sake in the photos/due to blisters, has been raked and bagged! On Sunday I also used the blower to get leaves off the driveway and to blow leaves off the yard and into the natural area in about 1/3 of the front. Whew!

Now onto pictures to prove this amazing feat! :)

Part of Sunday's bags

Looking to the right from the palm tree

I know it's blurry, but look! You can see GREEEEEEN grass!

More GREEEEEEN!!! :)

This is to compare... this is the side yard (and a crazy pooch) still covered in leaves. The whole yard used to look like this.

PLUS, I cut out as much of the seam allowance as possible in the thumb of the oven mitt and cut a slit in the wrist, and it's actually functional! I'm not going to give it as a gift, but right now it's on display on top of our fridge. It's a great hubby-swatter. :) Hehe

If you're tired of the cold, come visit! We are in bloom already!
(this one obviously "coming soon")

Lastly, we recently received this in the mail.
I already asked off for it, and I can't wait to come home in May! Not only will we be coming HOME, but we'll be come HOME to CELEBRATE and REJOICE in Ruthie getting hitched!
I can't wait, I can't wait! :)


Ooops... lastly (for real) you can never have too many Sammy pictures. :)

Hooray!

I just did a rough draft for our taxes. My rough draft last year was off, after going over it with Dad (thank you, Dad). We ended up owing a teeny, tiny bit. I was so disappointed, especially because I thought we were going to get a tiny bit back.

My dad is coming to visits in a few weeks, so we'll go over this year's (I hope). But if I didn't make any mistakes *this* time, we should get a couple hundred dollars back. I guess mortgage interest and high property taxes are good for something. It was also neat to see how much the Lord has allowed us to give in supporting His work through our church this year.

We are thankful!

Joy tagged me on my craft blog to tell 7 things you might now know about me... I thought that it would be fun to do on here too (just for fun) and try to tag some of the people who read *this* blog more. :) Some might overlap if I can't think of 7 new things.... or it might just turn into 7 random things...

1. I once convinced Matt over the phone while he was out of town that I had dyed my hair red in his absence (I hadn't really). Even when I told him I was kidding, he didn't believe me.
   
2. I have a beautiful bouquet of 3 roses (the same kind that was in my wedding bouquet) on the kitchen counter that Matt gave me last weekend when I was so broken-hearted.
   
3. I didn't know what my wedding band looked like until Matt slipped it on my finger at our wedding! It was a super surprise!
   
4. I cry at Publix commercials (the really sappy ones for Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, etc.).
5. I love grammar...I really love grammar (which is a good thing since I have to teach all the parts of speech and simple, compound, and complex sentences, etc. to my *3rd* graders!).
6. My vacuum cleaner is stuck on self-propel... I might need to take it to the vacuum place. I tried opening it up myself, but couldn't unstick the switch.
   
7. I REALLY want to learn how to smock (website or book suggestions? Anyone?).

I still tag Erin, and I tag Jessica. :)

More Funnies

As read on mymeanderings (a blog):

(Conversation in the kitchen while I made dinner)

Me: Jeff do you want me to write little notes to you and stick them in your lunch bag for school?

Jeff: YEAH!! I would love that!

Me: Really?! I thought you would not even read them, I am so sorry I would have been doing it all along but I thought it might embarrass you.

Jeff: It's okay Mom, I sit by _______ at lunch every day and when he is done reading his note from his Mom he gives them to me. It feels like I get my own note. And she is really good at writing notes, sometimes she sends him notes from his dog and she signs it with a paw print.

(that's SO my mom, and I loved it!!) :)

And more...it's tooooo sweet!

I will sometimes give Jeff some change to bring to school which is a big deal to him. For a quarter he can choose from milk or a bag of chips. This week Steve gave him a dollar. It was placed carefully in his Winnie-the-Pooh wallet, checked and re- checked.

Last night before going to bed he told Etienne that he was going to spend all his change the next day on three bags of chips one for Eti, one for Chloe, and one for himself.

Earlier today I got an email from his teacher who is a good friend of mine, in the subject line it read CHIPS?

Here is what it said:

Jeff ordered 3 bags of chips today. he said something about a party with his
brother and sister. I was quite confused and I thought they were coming for
lunch or something, but he said they weren't. I asked if you knew he was
ordering 3 chips and he said yes. So I guess you are having a chip
party at home?! He cracks me up. He was very excited about this. :)

have a good day!
Rachael

When I called and asked her if I could post the email she laughed and said "I had to email you because usually kids wait half an hour before placing their lunch order and he came in all determined and without taking his backpack off said 'Mrs. _____ I have to order three bags of chips!' And I was thinking 'This does not even sound like a normal situation'!..."

All day today Etienne was saying "I am so filled with excited joy!!! I can't wait until Jeff gets home to have our chip party!"

I do feed my kids

I think they were this excited because they could sense Jeff was trying to do something special for them. The day before he had bought them a bag of Sun Chips, he said "After I bought the chips I was looking and looking at the bag and trying not to think about them, they looked so good. I ended up tearing them open and I ate a few but then I put them away". When he came home he got out two bowls and counted the chips one by one to make it fair.

So you can imagine the delight today when he came home with a bag for each!

BRRRRRR!!!

Just a little "funny" from last night. We are now hosting a Bible study in our home on Sundays. I was busy cleaning up some last minute spots that needed tidying (I had cut a bunch of fabric for a baby blanket and desperately needed to vacuum), and I was feeling pretty warm when I was done. Matt is *always* hot, so I just decided to turn off the heater for a little bit.

After Bible study, one of the couples invited us to come over later for dinner, so we fed Sammy after everyone left and then got ourselves ready to go have dinner with them. We had a tasty dinner and really enjoyed visiting with them. When we came back home, I was struck by how COLD it was in our house. Matt commented on it, too, but I said, "Let's just grab a fleece blanket. We're going to bed soon anyway." So, we made do for an hour or so. When we DID head for bed, I did a double take as I passed the thermostat. In the winter, we normally set the heater to a cool 67. There aren't THAT many cold months in FL, and usually if we're still chilly at 67, a sweatshirt or blanket does the trick. Anyway, the thermostat said it was 61 in our house!! I forgot to turn the heater back on! BRRRRRRRRR!!! I laughed and told Matt (as I turned the heater on and gladly heard/felt warm air begin wooshing through the vents). I'm so thankful we caught that mistake, and we got to sleep snug as a bug in a rug! :)

Fell off the face of the earth....

...wow. I didn't realize my last post was November 17!! Sorry for the long delay!

As a quick catch-up of sorts....

-Matt installed the crown molding and it looks wonderful. We have some things to fix here and there, being first time DIY-ers for such a big undertaking. For now, the room is getting back together and we'll revisit some of the "trouble" spots after New Year's. We want to enjoy it and get the house back in order for the holidays!

-We went to Melbourne, FL, for Thanksgiving and celebrated with Matt's parents, sister, uncle & aunt, and cousin (and his sister's friend who came over from Tampa). It was good to see everyone again! I think one of the highlights for me was being included in what is obviously a "Kubo thing." If you know Matt's dad, you know he LOVES hunting and FISHING in particular. Fishing will cure what ails you for him, I think. :) Most of us went fishing off a bridge over a cause-way in Melbourne. I haven't fished since we lived in Hollymead (preschool-2nd grade)... so let's round that to say 7 years old. That means I haven't fished in almost 20 years!! But... I caught 3 fish!!! They were all "fisherman's choice" (whatever that is). Matt's uncle said he thought it was in the carp family (?). All I know is, I'm an official Kubo or something now, because I went fishing and not only that, it wasn't abysmal! My personal favorite part of the fishing, much to the chagrin of the Real Fishermen, was the dolphin that danced around in the water and toyed with any fish that happened to take a bite and get caught on your line. On two occasions, the dolphin jumped out of the water and snatched the fish (hook, line, and sinker) right off the line in MID-AIR!!! And on many occasions it snatched the fish underwater before you could reel it in. I thought it was fabulously entertaining.... the Real Fishermen were probably wondering who brought the crazy, obviously-not-a-Real-Fisherman girl with them. :)

-We're back in the swing of things at school. Two and a half week to go until Christmas break (eek)!

-I lost a contact lens (rubbed my eyes, thought I just rubbed it off of "suctioning," but then couldn't find it when I went to go stick it back on). Went to the eye doctor to get new lenses and found out I have infections in both my eyes. My increased eye strain and ocular migraines might not just be stressed related--my eyes are apparently swollen and irritated enough (unbeknownst to me... I didn't notice anything) to completely change my prescription... by a lot. So now I get to use these stinging eye drops 3 times a day and go back on Friday. Moral of the story: when you get married and start staying up late on Fridays and falling asleep with your contacts in and nothing bad seems to happen so then you start working and being exhausted and think you're "getting away" with not taking your contacts out every night.... think again. Take them out! (I know, I know... taking your contacts out is a cardinal rule of contact lens wearing, I have learned my lesson).

-I have tried to add some Christmas cheer to the house. Pictures to come soon.

-Matt added some Christmas cheer himself today when he put up the Christmas tree we chose. A Douglas Fir won AGAIN this year! 3 in a row for us.... I named him "Big Boy" because Matt kept saying he wanted a tall tree, but he also wanted a Fraser, and I was trying to persuade him into the big Douglas that I found vs. the smaller Fraser I found (our top contender from each category). He now says he loves how big Big Boy is. :) It was his year to pick the tree (we alternate who has the final say.... we're both youngests, so we had to come up with a compromise). Pictures of Big Boy coming soon as well. The only sad thing.... we were wearing short sleeves while we looked, and I saw at least one person wearing a tank top and shorts.... that's just wrong. It's hard to feel Christmas-y down here sometimes! But we're trying!

-Matt is absolutely, positively in love with Sammy. It's the cutest thing. Today he was patting on her and made up a little ditty about, "Whoever said small dogs are no fun should be shot" (see, there's that hunting thing again :) ). You see, when I would show him dogs I liked, he always said, "No, we need a big dog. Small dogs are not fun." We showed HIM wrong, huh Sam? :) She will be making the trip north with us for Christmas. She is excited!

-Lastly, we bought Sammy's Christmas presents today. We just put a couple things in her stocking. I picked one toy, and Matt picked one toy. We took her with us to the store to test out what she would like. We found some winners!! I'm really excited about them. :)

-Now, I need to go work on my Super Duper Top Secret Handmade Christmas Present for Someone Special while Matt plays a little more Xbox. :)

We love you and can't wait to see everyone at Christmas!!! Three weeks, three weeks!!

P.S. Oh yeah, and I am DETERMINED that we really will go to WDW this year while it's decorated for Christmas.... Here's hoping!!

Procrastinating....

I am ALMOST done with lesson plans.... almost.

I have science left to plan and math page numbers to write in. Then I am DONE! Hopefully this week I can plan during the week so I can get a week ahead. Now that open house is over and we have some normalcy to our routine, I should be able to plan more than one week at a time. Gotta love having some cushion built in for when busy weekends come up.

This weekend has been nice. Yesterday we slept in and then went to Home Depot. We've had our eye on a couple light fixtures at Lowe's, but we wanted to compare them to Home Depot's offerings before we settled on our purchases. As it turned out, at HD we found a dining room chandelier we liked better, hall fixtures we liked better, and a new kitchen ballast we liked better... and we spent less $$ than we would have at Lowe's. Woo hoo! So we loaded up a cart! We still like the prices/choices on the medicine cabinet, interior doors, and storm door better at Lowe's. But we got all our lighting out of the way! Matt installed the chandelier last night, and the hall lights and kitchen light are waiting for when he has a buddy (the hall lights will require some attic work and the kitchen ballast will require 2 people). My dad is coming to visit in October, so maybe we'll get to do some work then. ;) We'll try to get some pictures up in the meantime. :)

It's very exciting to be checking items off our "home improvement" list. At this point, we basically have left painting a few things (laundry room, master bath), updating the den (take down paneling and put up dry wall--happening in October), and switching our fake wood stained slab doors to white molded doors. We have already painted almost every room, replaced the lighting/fans in the eat-in kitchen, den, master bedroom, and dining room, done some landscaping, bought new furniture, and painted some trim. We're going to install the fans we took down in the kitchen and master bedroom in the two secondary bedrooms for now. At some point we put in something newer, but for now, we'll take advantage of what we already have!

Sammy has been a sweetie-pie lately. She LOVES being allowed in the den. She is definitely my little buddy when I get home and wait upon Matt's return from work. :) She's just such a quiet and sweet-natured little dog. :)

Alright, I think I should finish up those plans now before we leave for small group. We hope you've had a good weekend.

We especially want to say

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
to
My mom and Matt's mom!!!

A Comedy of Errors

**EDIT** How could I forget?? There's more to the story!! After all that, I looked in the fridge, and some extra beef I had set in there to stay cool until I could divide it into meal-sized servings for freezing had leaked (okay, gross coming up) blood all over the shelf it was on and then dripped down and underneath the veggie bin. It was disgusting!!! I mean, seriously. It took me a long time to clean up, and it just was so gross. Then I guess I twisted my foot funny when getting back up from cleaning the fridge, and I split my big toe nail!! It's split/torn far enough into the nail that if I try to clip it or anything, it will go to the quick. So anyway, there's the rest of the evening's events from yesterday...**

Sorry the last post was just pictures. I'll go back and add captions if necessary. Most of them were pretty self-explanatory. I wasn't particularly in the mood for typing up a post after our interesting evening. Nothing awful, but mishap after mishap.

It all started when....

Matt was sweetly retrieving the spaghetti sauce from the pantry for me while I browned the beef. I heard him say, "Shoot!" and looked over just in time to see the glass jar of spaghetti sauce go crashing to the floor. It splattered all over the walls, the door, Sammy's crate, Matt's clothes, the tiles, the grout (the FRESHLY CLEANED GROUT!!!), the table and chairs... you get the idea. I was aghast! It was such a mess, I didn't even know where to begin! I had Matt turn off the stove where the meat had been ready and waiting so it wouldn't burn. Then I got a dark kitchen towel, dampened it, and I set to work wiping down the walls and trim first, as I didn't want little red dots staining the paint. Next, He gave me some cardboard that had been in the trash, and I used that to scoop the majority of the tomato sauce and large glass jar pieces into the trash. After that, it was wiping up all the tomato sauce. It took a l-o-n-g time. I tried to rinse out the grout several times. I haven't yet determined if it will need any more recourse. In living here just over a year, Matt has now exploded a bottle of orange soda and a jar of spaghetti sauce all over the kitchen walls!! Then, as I was trying to wipe up some glass shards in the pantry entryway, I lost my balance and fell onto Sammy's water bowl on my way to the floor. You guessed it, all of her water spilled onto the floor annnnnnd soaked up into my clothes. I was laying flat on my back by this point, and there was dead silence. I started to laugh/cry and Matt asked if I was laughing or crying. I laughed, "I don't know!" and then the tears came. I cried. And cried some more. He told me to go change; I told him that was my only clean pair of jeans. He told me to go ahead and put pjs on and he'd clean up the rest. I cut my foot on the glass while cleaning the floor, and then in trying to catch myself during my fall, my finger got sliced (the size of a bad paper cut) in two places. I was a mess.

Then, twice last night Matt knocked over materials where I was working on stamping cards. We ended up about 0-4... every near mishap turned into a spill by the end of the night.

Today has been better. I am excited about some sewing books I requested a "hold" for at the library, including the new Bend the Rules Sewing. I really stopped by to pick up a reserved copy of The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. When they handed to me yesterday, I realized it was the teacher's guide I had reserved! Which is great, but now I still need to go check out a copy of the actual novel.

Today I made some more cards, which I'll post later. Matt and I also had lunch with our pastors to brainstorm ideas for renewing the usher/greeter team for the next 6 months. And that is about it. Matt's probably working until 7 or so, since we had the lunch today with Rob and Frank. I think we're having either soft or fractured tacos if he ever gets home. :)

Sammy has been a sleepy head all day. All that commotion last night must have really worn her out!

Oh yeah, and Matt's party! Matt's birthday was July 1, and we celebrated it with each of our families during our vacation the beginning of July. But then we came home, caught up from that trip/prepped for Matt's next trip, he went to Portland for a week, and then it was Kids Camp. This was kind of our first opportunity to celebrate just the two of us. Last summer we saw Pirates II with Jamie and Mark, and Matt and Mark were both really excited about a Transformers preview that we saw at the time. I immediately ordered Transformers party gear from birthdayexpress.com thinking we'd have Jamie and Mark over for Matt's birthday this year. Fast-forward to December when Jamie and Mark moved to ATL. No more Transformers party. I finally had to tell Matt I had Transformers themed goodies and ask him to think if there was anyone here who wouldn't think it was totally kooky-weird to have a party like that. We couldn't come up with anyone. :) So, instead, we had a Transformers party just the two of us. I had even ordered stickers to make invites... but I guess I'll scrapbook his party with them instead. He picked steak and baked potatoes for dinner, so I picked that up during my grocery shopping on Monday. I'd honestly been able to scrounge with what we had, so I hadn't gone to the grocery store in 2-3 weeks. It was restocking time. :) I also got some yummy fresh romaine lettuce for a birthday salad, yummy fresh-from-the-bakery rolls, AND I tried a from scratch red velvet cake (thank you Kris and Bob Johnson--it was from the recipe book they gave us for our wedding). It's supposed to be the same recipe at the Waldorf Astoria uses. It was a really pretty cake and yummy batter. Unfortunately, our oven cooks kinda hot and with a brand new recipe, it can be hard to judge "done-ness." So , you could say the cake's a little on the dry side. But, at least I tried. :( I gave him a movie he wanted and an accessory for the 360. Lastly, ever since we got married, Matt has raved about cool globes we've seen at various stores. I saw one was on sale at Pier 1, and I went for it. He was realllly surprised, and it's really fun! We've both looked up lots of places. You know how you'll have a general idea of where something is, but it's fun to find it exactly. I looked up places in Mongolia (for Amy D.) and Australia (for Ashley). What does my husband look for? Dutch Harbor (gold stars if you know what tv show that references). I cracked up at that. :) "OH LOOK, honey!! I found Dutch Harbor!!" For now, we have it placed in a front corner of the living room. It's wrought iron stand and "old world" look are quite masculine and handsome, so says my hubby. :) And it fits nicely in there. We have several wrought iron accents throughout the house, so it's a perfect "model" for us. He wanted it somewhere with a light ("a soft light"), so people wouldn't have to strain their eyes if they wanted to look for something. :) He's SO CUTE!!!! Anyway, if you go on a world tour or even just a hop, skip, and a jump away, you can bet there are some people in Gainesville looking up your vacation destination! :)

I guess that's about all for now... Yea for play days before school starts!

Love,
Becca

The Magic Touch

My family had a pretty long-standing running joke about me, my computer, and Brad. Having majored in comp sci in college, I turned to him whenever my computer wasn't "acting right." Inevitably, no matter how many times I plugged and unplugged various cords, Brad would come over, jiggle a cord or two, and everything would hum along as expected, operating perfectly. You might even say he was "the computer whisperer."

Today I think I met "the vacuum whisperer." Last night, as embarrassing as this is to admit, I tripped and fell while I was using the vacuum. It was one of those slow-motion falls where I became more and more tangled in the vacuum cord and fell. Lovely and graceful, right? Anyway, the tug of my fall was hard enough to pull the plug from the socket. I thought, "no big deal," and plugged it back in. Nothing. I toggled the on/off switch... nothing. I tried a different outlet... to no avail. I sat on the floor and unscrewed the handle. exposing the internal power switch. Nothing. In my frustration, I admit tears were shed. Thankfully, I've already located and visited the vacuum store in Gainesville (yes, store, singular--there is ONE company with 2 branches in all of Gainesville) earlier this year when a belt came loose. I paid them a visit this afternoon feeling rather foolish as I explained what had happened. I thought to myself, "Watch this guy plug it in and have no problems." Sure enough, he plugged it in, flipped the switch, and it roared to life! "No fair!" I thought. He asked me a couple questions ("How long have you had it?") and suggested a filter needing to be changed could have instigated an overheating incident yesterday. "There's a filter?" I asked. I had checked the "filter" on more than one occasion, and it looked fine. He pulled it out and said it was just a cheap piece of styrofoam that accomplished next-to-nothing. I had actually wondered if that was the case, but didn't know the answer. He fit me with a real HEPA filter, and he accidentally sucked up another little filter it came with, so he replaced that (and my vacuum bag) for free! Altogether, what did his "girl can't even operate her own vacuum" look/filter replacement cost me? $15. I thought I'd broken the vacuum for sure, so I was quite happy with that total. And the living and dining rooms are quite happy as well, as I finally got to finish vacuuming them today. :)

Out of Character

Last night I asked Matt something very uncharacteristic of me. My interesting inquiry was... "Is there any good Chinese take out in Gainesville?" Now those of you who know me and my picky-ness are aghast, I know. But I assure you, I really did ask that. And I assure you, aliens did not switch me out with a look-alike. I really kind of had a hankering for some Chinese take out (!). We did a little research and found a great little place just up the road, Chan's Chinese Restaurant ("New York Style Chinese"... whatever that is). Someone had posted a review online saying they had the best sweet & sour chicken in town, which you know is the Chinese food I like. :) hehe So, off we went.

We got a big pack of sweet & sour chicken to share, some chicken fried rice for me, and some vegetable lo mein for Matt. I have to say, it was REALLY good!! The sweet & sour chicken was excellent! I am looking forward to that treat again sometime. I also have to say, I find the little take out boxes to be quite cute. :) We even had leftovers of everything for lunch today. YUM! So, if you like Chinese and you come visit us, we know where you take you now!

We hope your weekend is going well. We have greatly enjoyed time with each other, Sammy, the Body of Christ, and the Lord!

Love,
Becca

Week in Review

(updated 4.16.2007)

(a picture of Sammy, for good measure)

Okay, since I was not-so-great about keeping the blog updated this week, how about a little "week in review" action...

last Sunday: Easter!! I gave a recap of this two posts ago, but in general, we were very thankful to have some "Gainesville family" from church invite it to share Easter lunch with them. We rejoice in God's provision in faithfulness in even the small things, like Easter lunch, but most especially for Jesus!

Monday: I also posted about last Monday two posts ago. The kids did a great job of jumping back into the swing of things, and the week was off to a good start (although we had such a great spring break, we were wishing for more).

Tuesday-Thursday: I can't think of anything particularly outstanding about the middle of the week, honestly. :) We went to work, we did our jobs, we came home to the sweet Samantha... very "lather, rinse, repeat" kind of days. But, we are thankful for the work that fills them and the home we come home to--with each other (and Sammy). :) In short, I got some field trip details lined up, sent home report cards, passed out class and spring individual pictures, finished up (almost) our animal unit, began 4th grade math. :) The week started off chilly, but by the end of the week I could finally wear some of my fun, new spring clothes (acquired over spring break at the outlets, etc.), hooray!

Friday: The weekend!!! Hooray! We were reallllly ready for it after being spoiled with spring break (Matt said spring break was so good, he felt like we were on our honeymoon again). I left ASAP after school--I promised myself I would. :) I enjoyed some time relaxing, and then I ran some errands (just a few). I also stopped at an estate sale down the street, but nothing caught my eye. Matt came home, we had our traditional Friday night dinner (we've moved from pizza to Publix brand lasagna (like Stouffers)--we eat 1/2 on Friday for dinner and 1/2 on Saturday for lunch). I think we mostly relaxed after that. I fell asleep on the couch (big surprise), and Matt woke me up to drag me to bed a little while later. :)

Saturday: Yard day! We had a lot of fun working in the yard, even though it became quite warm! I think the high was pushing 90 on Saturday. As Matt has dug up roots and other assorted items in the back yard (with Sammy's help at times... she has unearthed some unusual things like a ceramic rooster head), he came across many, MANY rocks! We (he) ended up piling them in the back yard. Our front yard also had assorted rocks scattered about the "natural area." We've been trying to decide what to do with the "natural area." Basically, there are two theories on its origin (according to neighbors). Theory One: the dirt in our yard became "spoiled" during construction and has therefore become largely inhospitable to grass. Theory Two: We have a LOT of shade from all our wonderful trees, and St. Augustine grass prefers more sun than our trees allow. Whichever theory is correct, we've been brainstorming low-cost ways to tidy up the front yard and make the natural area look more intentional. I asked Matt if we could place rocks as a border around the natural area. He did this to a bed around our kumquat tree, and I really liked the effect. He wasn't so sure about it, but we gave it a go. We lugged rock after rock after rock to the perimeter of the natural area. It took several hours of carrying heavy rocks (and Matt even tossed some once we used all the ones already in the front yard.... it was the fastest way to move them from the back to the front), but we really like the finished product. It is a VAST improvement, if you ask me! Here are some pictures below:




After placing the rocks around the front, we still had more rocks left! So, we lined the garden-y sides of the back yard as well with rock borders. Now we are contemplating adding some green accents along the sidewalk in the front. We are thinking about using this:


Eventually, we want to take out the bushes to the right of the front door (if you're looking at the front), and plant Japanese boxwoods along there (same as the low hedges on the left end of the front side of the house). I also hope to find two big planters at the end of the season (which is admittedly a LONG way off down here), so I can have some pretty flowers on each side of the doorway next year (we might keep the current ones, or possibly find something different).

After all our yard work Saturday, we cleaned up and ran some errands. Then we went out to celebrate our 1.5 year anniversary! It wasn't really until Sunday, but we have small group Sunday nights. We used a gift card and had dinner at Chili's (mmmm, chips & salsa), and then we puttered around Lowe's. We made a lot of all the things we'd really like to do to the house, and then priced all of them. :) Now we can make a master plan. I was particularly THRILLED to find out white interior doors are only $25 each! After dreaming at Lowe's, we stopped at Sonic and used another gift card to grab some dessert. Matt chose a lemonberry slush and I had a chocolate cream pie shake. Yum! It was a great evening together are a morning of hard work together. :)

Sunday: We went to church, followed by a thrilling lunch at home of left overs from the night before. :) I worked on some lesson plans, we played with Samantha, I vacuumed.... really exciting stuff. :) Then we stopped to get a birthday cake for small group; one of the guys had a birthday last Thursday. Unfortunately, he and his wife didn't make it to the group that night, so we had cake without him!

Monday: Today! Back to work we went. :) We both had good, productive days. I am all caught up on grading and ready to tidy up some places in my room that are starting to bother me (I just want to streamline a little). On a side note, Aqua is still amazingly alive! Even after spring break! The kids still love to go look at him, watch him swim, and watch him blow bubbles. :) He's been fun to have around, even if I do hold my breath most mornings to see if he's still alive. So far, so good (thanks, Lord!).

I guess that's about all for us for now. We hope your week is off to a good start! We praise the Lord for you! :)

Love,
Becca