phineas and ferb

ok. i know this is going to be a lame post, but after last night's tear-jerker, i needed to write about something more light-hearted! plus i'm sure there will be more tears later this week...

so i was knitting and watching twilight {again} when spencer came in. he has this ability to know when i'm watching that movie!!! i won't let him watch it with me because i don't think he's old enough. it's not like it's bad or anything, it's just not age appropriate.

anyway.....i turned off the movie and switched to the disney channel because phineas and ferb was on. i mainly just had the tv on for background noise anyway, but i admit, i enjoy watching that show! tonight's episode was about time travel, and it was very cleverly written. it's such a happy little show!

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phineas and ferb

and the quote of the day comes from the "future" version of their title song!

quote of the day: "...so make every minute count. Jump up, jump in and seize the day. And let's make sure that in every single possible way today is gonna be a great day." ~Bowling for Soup

blessed

tonight my friends from work took me out for my "going away dinner." it was so nice to be surrounded by my co-workers that are truly my friends. i love all these ladies very much, and if i continue to write, i will start crying.......i'll save the tears for friday, my last day at park lane.

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good-bye dinner

quote of the day: "If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart. I'll stay there forever."~Winnie the Pooh

p.s. seeing all these pictures made me start crying anyway....

blank slate

i got to see my new classroom today! it is definitely a blank slate! i have a lot of work ahead of me to make it look inviting to kids! wow!

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room 106

quote of the day: "Be kind. Work hard."

new friends, old friends

today we worshipped at adams blvd. church of christ, our new church home. then we had lunch at the baird's {some new friends} home. they went all out....sunday roast, potatoes, carrots, gravy, rolls, etc. and then we had ice cream sundaes for dessert....yum-o!

with stuffed bellies we went back to the church to donate blood to the american red cross. this is the first time i've donated since college. i don't know why i haven't done it in so long. i'm not scared of needles, and i don't get sick when i do it. daryl couldn't give because he'd been in india less than a year ago.

waiting to donate

why is it that the finger prick hurts worse than the needle in your arm? i actually have a little bruise on my finger!

poor little finger!

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point of entry

photo by spencer

{if you look real close you can see the blood squirting out!}

tonight we went back to 29th and yale church of christ. it was so nice to see old friends again! the family that daryl stayed with in india was there tonight. ricky spoke. it was amazing to listen to him! he had so much joy and excitement about being a christian!!!

afterwards we went to eat at desi wok for indian food.

his wife is feeling homesick. i feel so sorry for her. i asked how long they'd be in the u.s. and she teared up and said they'd be here until november. this is the first time she's been away from home and family for so long. she is so kind. she brought me an embroidered cloth that was hand-stitched by some of the ladies at the church in kakinada, india. one of their ministries at the church is to teach women how to sew so that they can make a living.

quote of the day: "It is an HONOR and a PRIVILEGE to be called a Christian." ~Ricky Gootam

seriously?

today we took grandma on a tour of bartlesville. { i was planning to pack my classroom up today, but since i didn't find out for sure when my last day will be, i put off packing for another day! shame on me!}

after touring b'ville, we went antiquing in dewey. even though we came home empty-handed, i still saw some fun stuff! {i drooled over many jars of buttons, but i couldn't convince daryl that i needed them!}

cute little metal cars

i like the green one!

a little elf band!!

this just makes me laugh! it's a pin cushion with little asian dudes plastered all around it!

spencer spotted the weirdest thing BY FAR! it was actually disgusting! there was this cool little jar with an old picture somehow placed in the lid.

i know you're thinking, "what's weird about that?" it's what was IN the jar that was weird.......it was HAIR!!! scraggly, nappy, wiry black and gray hair inside this jar. AND they were selling it for $45 dollars!!! what in the world? seriously? $45 for someone's nasty hair? who is going to buy that?????

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just plain nasty!

quote of the day: "I'm trying to take on manners, okay?" ~Spencer

knitting again

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circular needles

there's something about fall and cooler temps that make me want to knit again! tonight i pulled out the circular needles that i bought a while back and tried them out! i wish i would have gotten smaller ones because these make really big stitches. or maybe i should be using bulkier yarn. oh, well. i'm just practicing anyway!

quote of the day: "Can I toot?" ~one of my students actually asked me this today!

hot dogs and bananas

while we were in target tonight, the boys and i checked out the costume aisle...

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cute enough to eat!

quote of the day: "Ok. Get the weenie off my head!"~Colby

cool moon

the little sliver of the moon was very cool tonight. i took a picture of it as we were driving home! {he, he} ain't it purty?

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cool moon

totally random quote of the day: "If it weren't for Gilligan's Island, I'd know nothing about quicksand." ~me!

happy autumn

finally! fall is officially here!!!! and the temperature today was amazing. it will be in the low 50s tonight! it's almost cold enough to sleep with the windows open!!!!

i was behind this cool red truck at the gas station today!

and tonight was bible study at gigi's house! yummy mexican food and homemade red velvet cupcakes for dessert {go abbey!}

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sisters

quote of the day: "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus." ~Phil. 4:7

the rains came down, and the floods came up....

man! who opened up the clouds? it's been raining like crazy around here since 3 this afternoon! it was completely sunny and hot at recess, and a couple of hours later it looked like someone turned off all the lights outside! but i'm not complaining....i love this kind of weather AND i didn't have to do bus duty outside! BONUS!

the day was weird anyway. i told my students that i was moving. thank goodness no one cried {not that i was expecting that} because i would have been crying right along with them! most of them didn't believe me at first. then they got really loud, griping about me leaving. i guess that's better than them cheering! :)

i was going to stay after school and start packing, but i decided i better get home before all the roads flooded. some of the back roads we usually take were already starting to get covered. there were several big tree limbs in the road like this one:

tonight the boys and i were total bums! we put our pj's on as soon as we got home. i heated leftovers and we watched elf! spencer wanted to "start the christmas spirit early!" plus he reminded me that i had already been listening to christmas music!

while we were watching the movie, the sky turned many different colors. the weirdest one was this yellow-orange one. i guess the sun was trying really hard to break through all the storm clouds because during this yellow-orange phase there was a faint rainbow!

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rainbow in the storm

quote of the day: "What if our new teacher doesn't laugh as much as you do?" ~the student who brought me the dove's feet.

weekend in b'ville

last night we went to bartlesville to meet the new associate minister and his family. the young families were having a game night, so we thought this would be a great opportunity to meet them. we spent the night there, which was so wonderful because we got to sleep until 7:30 this morning! getting an extra hour of sleep on sunday morning is refreshing!

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fuzzy and colby

i was so refreshed that i didn't even take a nap today! that is very unusual for me on a sunday afternoon! instead spencer and i went on an antiquing adventure.

first we headed to dewey, oklahoma "antique capital of oklahoma". only 2 stores were open, so i asked him if he was up for an adventure. he said, "sure. where are we going?"

"kansas!!!"

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welcome to kansas

{notice the teeth between our heads...that was one of the treasures spencer found! chattering teeth from 1964!}

i don't think he believed me at first. i knew bartlesville was close to the kansas border, but i didn't know how close. it's actually only about 20-30 minutes. we found this really awesome antique store/flea market in coffeyville, kansas. i wanted all of these things, but i didn't buy any of them!

our evening ended with a family picnic at church. whoever originally purchased the land the church is on was very wise. there is a huge yard area among the trees, and they have a

pavilion, too! it's a perfect place for events like this. one of the elders got all of the ministers up there to sing the "hippo song" for the little kids. it was hysterical!

quote of the day: "Welcome to Kansas." ~road sign in Kansas!

bitter-sweet

that one word describes my day...bitter-sweet.

sometime after midnight, i got a call from my sister saying that dad had been taken by ambulance because he was having chest pains. i immediately felt like i was going to vomit or pass out. i couldn't believe this was happening to my dad again! of course i couldn't really sleep after that. i laid in bed for a long time crying and begging god, "please don't take dad yet. please don't take dad yet."

today was professional development so i kept my phone out and on the whole time waiting for word on dad. praise god it wasn't too serious. he had to have a stent replaced, and he'll hopefully be going home tomorrow. his heart is very healthy, but his arteries are the problem. keep praying.

then after lunch on the way to the second of professional development i got a call from the principal of jane phillips elementary offering me the job i'd interviewed for on wednesday. i couldn't believe it. since our meeting was in the same building as human resources, my current principal suggested that i go ahead and turn in my letter of resignation.

as i was sitting in my car writing this letter, i started bawling! i was suddenly flooded with memories of my 3 years at park lane and all the wonderful friends i've made. i couldn't stop crying! i walked into human resources, handed the lady my letter with tears running down my face, and turned to leave. she stopped me and said to pull myself together because i had to talk to someone higher up in HR! the other lady reassured me that i would be able to get out of my contract so i didn't need to worry. i blubbered, "that's not why i'm crying! this is a lot harder than i thought it would be!" they all probably thought i was nuts!

crying eyes...

so in a couple of weeks i will be starting all over again in a brand new place. i will also be teaching something i've never taught before....2nd grade! i know once i get into the swing of things, i'll be fine. but right now i'm really nervous about it!

when i got home this evening i was emotionally drained. i needed some comfort, so i made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and sweet tea for supper! the only time i ever make that is when i've had a really rough day! and if that wasn't enough to make me feel better, i had christmas music playing while i was cooking!

then after supper the family played games. first it was wahoo {which i totally stunk at tonight! i never even got one marble half-way around the board!} then we played the old marble game stay alive. after that it was some serious bananagrams. spencer kept winning and winning! it was so frustrating! i wouldn't let them quit until i finally beat him!

me...the LOSER

i finally one a round with this....

since i had my camera on hand i started snapping pictures! and the crew even cooperated for me....sort of!

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say cheese!

quote of the day: "Raise the praise--Minimize the criticize."~Todd Whitaker