For Me?

I don't even know what to say - I can't believe it has happened to me, but it's true - I've been awarded a Stylish Blogger Award!  I think that the most fun thing about it is that someone I don't even know personally passed this on to me.  Thank you to MrsEyeCanSee for bestowing this upon me.  I began following her blog after it caught my eye in another fellow blogger's sidebar.  Once I read it, I was hooked!  Check it out - you won't be disappointed.  Funny thing - my husband will look over my shoulder as I'm reading blogs & ask "Who is that?"  It just boggles his mind when I tell him I don't know exactly - I just like her blog. :) 


Anyhow - here are the rules if you win a Stylish Blogger Award:

1) link back and thank the fabulous person who bestowed said amazing award on you
2) share 7 things about yourself
3) award 15 other deserving and great bloggers (I'm going to amend the # b/c I just don't have time to actually keep up with 15 other blogs!)
4) contact said bloggers to let them know of their award!

So - 7 things about myself...
1) I am a special education teacher.  I've done this for 12 years and have mostly loved it, but I'm ready to move on to something a little different.  The opportunity to change positions may be there, but there are a lot of unknowns and trying to be patient and wait on this is so much harder than I would have thought.  I'm working on the attitude that I will be happy with the job God has given me no matter what it is.  I do know that I can't imagine being anything other than a teacher.
2) I am a rule follower.  I feel the need to do things exactly as I'm supposed to.  I think it drives my husband crazy sometimes that I feel the need to do things so precisely.
3) The only time I ever remember faking being sick from school was on April 14, 1989.  I was in 7th grade and it was my boyfriend's (and I use that term loosely b/c boyfriend then meant we wrote each other notes & probably never actually spoke to one another) birthday & I didn't have a present for him & didn't want to be bothered with buying a present for him, so I figured that if I just missed school that day I could just avoid the whole situation. Obviously this was true love...ha! The craziest thing about it to me now was that this was also the day we had a practice to learn the cheer for tryouts for 8th grade cheerleader & that was super important to me, so I can't believe that I was willing to miss the day.  By the way - the boyfriend didn't last (shocking I know!), but I did make the 8th grade cheerleading squad.
4) I have a thing where I remember random dates forever (refer to #3).  I can't remember what I ate for lunch yesterday, but go figure...
5) I still drink Mountain Dew every day at lunch.  I am in my mid-30's & I can't seem to shake my love for the Dew.  All my 7th grade students always want to buy a can off me. :)
6) I am cheap - the better deal I get on something, the happier I am with it.  I found a pair of sandals on clearance at Kohl's a couple weeks ago that were $5 - and not only that, I got an extra 30% off of that.  $3.75 for an adorable pair of sandals that I can't wait to wear when the temperature maybe works its way toward the 60s.
7) I am a creature of habit.  I feel the need to do some things on a schedule - like cleaning day is on Thursday.  I can't make myself not clean on Thursday - the only exception being if I have Friday off.  I can't let it go.  I've tried - I just feel like things are not right in my world if I don't stick to my schedule.


These are my favorite blogs to keep up with.  I would actually have more if more of my friends would update theirs more often (hint, hint).  I am passing on the Stylish Blogger Awards to...


Krista at Always A Reason to Run
Laura at Dometic Goddess
Shea at It's a Guy Thing
Rachel at The Kanooths
Sarah at Pieces of Us
Katie at The Brittain Buzz
Sara at Surpised? No, not really...
Angela at Handmade in the Heartland


Thanks again MrsEyeCanSee - you really made my day!

Salivating for Spring

Is anyone else just dying for spring to get here after a day as warm as today?  I am just so done with the cold & snow.  In fact - I'm pretty much over seasons period.  I want to be this girl - every day - not just for a few months of the year (well - I don't want to lay in the grass & read, but you get the idea):

Days like today are such a tease at this time of year.  It will be at least a month before days like these and warmer ones will become the norm.  It is only serving to make me want what I can't have.

One of my students asked me today if I was ready for another snow day, to which I replied (possibly more forcefully than I should), "NO - ARE YOU KIDDING ME???" :)  He couldn't believe I was so against it.  But yes, I am against it.  I am against winter.  I do not like it anymore.  I have had ENOUGH!  

Oh Snow...

Here we are again - digging out from another 7 or 8 inches of snow.  I don't know about you, but I'm longing for some sunshine and pool time about now.  I'd take sunshine and 40 degrees even...that would feel downright balmy.  Luke is getting to enjoy the snow for the first time this year.  He was sick and spent 2 of our 3 snow days last week in bed feeling rotten.  He couldn't wait to get his shovel and go out with his dad to "help". 

I don't know why my picture is sideways - it is not saved that way, but for whatever reason, blogger is not uploading it the way it is saved.  Anyhoo - Brandon cleared the driveway once last night around 6, so what you see is what we got after that through this morning.  I am praying for school tomorrow - I am in the minority of snow day haters...I want summer break - not rotten snowy winter days off.  We're getting too close already to getting out after Memorial Day and that just makes me downright angry!  I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed that I will get to see my students' smiling faces tomorrow and that the next 6 weeks will bring us warmer & drier weather!

A little late, but still worth sharing

I had the bad luck blessing of being part of the annual Christmas skit at school this year & one of the things we had to do was wear some type of really ugly Christmas sweater/top.  I guess that is getting to be all the rage these days.  Anyway, I found my closet to be sorely lacking in the ugly Christmas-wear department.  Thankfully, in an e-mail sent out to a few friends, I was given this gem & was the hit of the (half)day before break.  The funny thing was, all the adults laughed, but I had kids I didn't even know coming up to me telling me how much they loved my top.  Much to my amusement, I even had 2 kids pet my shirt - yes, weird, but still pretty funny.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of me actually wearing it that day, because you can't get the full effect in this picture, but here it is in all its sequined-poinsettia glory:

Mixed Messages

Over a year ago, I gave Luke a stack of old (ugly) Christmas cards from years past so he could play with them.  He's pretty much ignored them until he re-discovered them over his Christmas break.  So, now Brandon and I have been getting regular "mail" delivery of Christmas cards.  Here is my favorite.  Notice what his card says (twice - I added the circles so you could find what it says easily).  Isn't that a mixed message to be sending with your Christmas cheer?  I think so, but I'm keeping it in a safe place so I can chuckle over it in the years to come. :)