February 25, 2013: I'd cap that

I got to see Tisa and her fun friend yesterday and they were telling me about this app called "I'd cap that"  I downloaded it, and for those of you who don't know what it is, you upload a picture and the app gives it a fitting caption.  I decided to try it, and this was the first thing I got.  

I am not quite sure what a turd cutter is, but I can use my imagination.

February 24, 2013: Hustle up the Hancock

Students, teachers, and parents from our school participated in the "Hustle up the Hancock" this year.  It was a race up 52 floors to raise money for lung disease research.  I am so proud of the kiddos who competed.  Most of them totally killed my time.  A shout out to first grader, Sam, who kept me motivated in the stair well!  My first pick of a climbing buddy was one of the super hot firefighters that started a few waves after us, but Sam was a great second choice :) Way to go, guys!!

February 23, 2013: This deserves a much cooler caption than I could come up with...

I felt really cool walking down the sidewalk with her.

February 22, 2013: Game Night Extravaganza

Fun night of games with friends from church.  Brian's impression of Elvis was the highlight of the night!

February 21, 2013: wicked phone

As you can see, I have no picture today.  This is not entirely my fault.  I had intended to take a picture at Cambridge's Black History Month program tonight.  I was going to drive to Lawndale (aka the hood) to pick up my former co-worker, Kim.  We were going to drive together to see the program, visit with our former students, and catch up with Cambridge family.  She had texted me directions to her school.  Being the great planner that I am, I didn't look at the directions until I was already on my way.  About 4 directions away, my phone completely shut off.  I was in the middle of the hood, with no directions, no number, no idea what school she worked at, and no way to contact her.  I just kept driving, hoping I would run into an elementary school.  I finally passed one in what I knew was the general area of her school.  The kids had just been dismissed and were waiting in lines outside the building to be picked up.  I jumped out of my car and ran over to the building, just as the teachers began quickly ushering the students back inside.  I asked if a teacher named Kim worked there.  One teacher answered, "No, but you better get back to your car.  We're going on lock down.  There is something crazy going down on the other side of this building."  Another teacher began yelling to the staff members "Lock the doors!  Lock the doors!"

I ran back to my car.  And proceeded to drive around the hood, while crazy stuff was happening.  I stopped at three different schools to ask if Kim worked there and got turned down each time.  Finally a school let me use the computer, so I called Cambridge.  Thankfully they had her number on file and I was able to get a hold of her, 40 minutes after I had planned to pick her up.  She told me she was sure I had been shot.  

All that to say, my phone stayed dead all night.  It wouldn't turn on, not even after being charged for hours.  And who knows where my actual camera is.  After getting an iphone, I haven't seen that thing in months.

February 20, 2013: desperation

I bought a new pair of pants at Marshall's a couple of weeks ago.  I loved them, so I went back and bought the same pair in khaki.  I didn't even try them on because I knew I loved the other ones so much.  I wore them today for the first time.  At about lunch time, I needed to pee pretty badly, so I went into the restroom and discover the zipper was jammed on my pants.  I couldn't get them unzipped.  I tried for a good 5 mins, then headed to my coworker's room to see if she could do it.  She spent a couple of minutes pulling with no success.  There was no way they were coming off.  My lunch period was nearing an end, so I sucked it up and picked the kids up from recess.  At 3:00 when the kids were dismissed, I sped home, desperate to go to the bathroom.  I tried pulling the zipper down with pliers (shown in the picture above).  No success.  Finally, I grabbed the scissors and cut myself out of them.  

February 19, 2013: Insect Art

This was on the wall at the Nature Museum.  I liked it!  I am thinking of doing something similar in my bedroom.  

February 18, 2013: hot legs

So I am a little embarrassed that this was the only picture I took today.  You get to see how hot my untanned legs look in the winter.  I was trying to document the bruise forming from my not so graceful skiing this weekend.

February 17, 2013: Helpful instructions

I saw this poster on the back of my stall door.  For a minute I panicked and thought I went into the men's bathroom by mistake.  I guess some people think it is necessary for women to know urinal etiquette as well.  Noted.

February 16, 2013: Hitting the Slopes

I hit those slopes hard and have the bruise to show it.  I'd rather not think about the moment when I fell while attempting to get onto the ski lift, causing the entire lift to be shut off while the lift worker helped me untangle my skis and get back onto my feet.  The worst part was that nobody but me found it amusing.  

February 15, 2013: Ski retreat!

Night #1 of the Park Ski Retreat.  We made it to WI in one piece and were getting ready to rest up for the big day of skiing tomorrow.  

February 14, 2013: Happy Valentine's Day!

You can't see it in the picture, but my student hand wrote the message, "The most brave teacher in all the land."

Man, my future love will have a lot to compete with some day :)

February 13, 2013: Creepers everywhere

I told you that creepers from Minecraft were taking over the classroom.  What am I supposed to do with this?

February 12, 2013: Thank you, Lincoln!

Thanks, Abe, for all you did.  We appreciate you!

Cheers!

February 11, 2013: Artie Face

My new favorite game is face timing with Artie and copying the faces he is making.  I think I did pretty well with this one.  

I love him so much.

February 10, 2013: Phew!

Almost didn't make it today!!

February 9, 2013: MONSTER JAM!

That's right.  We went to the Monster Truck Rally tonight.   I had a blast watching Grave Digger take on Zombie, seeing El Torro Loco tear up the ramps, and even watching a jet pack powered smart car zoom around the arena.  

February 8, 2013: Minecraft

Minecraft is slowly taking over my classroom.  This little guy is called a creeper.  You're not cool unless you have one in your desk.

February 7, 2013: Silent Night

Sometimes I really love winter.

February 6, 2103: Hoarder

Now that it has been snowing, I wear boots to school and change into shoes once I get there.  I have gotten in the habit of forgetting my shoes at school when I go home.  This is what results.  I got sick at the end of the day today, and realized how weird this would look to a substitute if they came in.  I brought them all home tonight.

February 5, 2013: One of those days

Can you tell what kind of day we had at school?  Glad this one is OVER!!

February 4, 2013: Windy Night

I love the eerie beauty of snowy nights.  I'm glad I have a huge front window so I can admire it from deep within my snuggie.

February 3, 2013: Coconut Ice cream

Haha, my first bite of coconut milk ice cream.  At this moment, I was sure I wasn't going to ever eat another bite.   As I am typing this now, the carton I just finished is inches away from my computer.  Some things you choose to get used to!

February 2, 2013: Happy Deal!!

I can't say I loved today.  I spent a lot of time wandering around Whole Foods, trying to figure out what I can be eating that has no gluten.  Just when I would find something that looked promising, I would check the label to find it had dairy in it.  All the while, I am completely conscious that I am not nearly earthy or health nutty enough to be walking around Whole Foods.  I don't smell musty enough and I felt like everyone could tell I come from a family that uses pesticides on our fruit farm.  Feeling discouraged, I grabbed some bulk quinoa and coconut milk ice cream and headed to World Market instead to pick out a tea pot as a special treat to myself.  I saw this really cute one, brought it up to the register and discovered it was on sale marked down from $20.00 to only $2.99!   Eat it, organic yuppies!  You spend way too much on wormy apples, and I get tea pots for 85% off!

February 1, 2013: Hey, Chuck.

So first of all, Katie actually took this picture, but I had to use it because Brookie is SO cute.  We took her and Jackson to Chuck-E-Cheese for the night.  The whole night Jackson kept waving to Chucky and saying, "Hey, Chuck!"  I was dying.  

January 31, 2013: Hermitology 101

I can already feel myself slipping into the beginning stages of hermitry.  Who am I kidding, I am well past stage one and into full blown antisocial winter hibernation.  My leg hair is grown out, I am eating left overs every night, Aside from Katie and the occasional phone call home I am rarely talking to adults, and my most exciting decision of the day is which sweat pants/ sweatshirt combo I am going to wear for the night.  ( The grout-fit has won on numerous occasions).  Get ready for a string of want to die of boredom pictures in the next month, because I HATE FEBRUARY!

January 30, 2013: Romans

My small group is going through Romans: Inductive style. This is my first time doing a study like this. On one hand I love it because it forces me to slow down and really dig into the text. I am learning a ton and being reminded daily of God's grace. On the other hand, if I have to draw a gavel over the word justified one more time I might lose it :) praise God for giving me a group of women who are eager to dig into this with me, help me sort out things when I am confused, and find joy in knowing God will always be bigger than we can imagine. I love these girls. So thankful for what God has blessed me with. And that He sticks with me when I definitely don't deserve it.

January 29, 2013: Gluten free is better than I thought

...well so far. I am only at day 3. The stuffed peppers and quinoa rocked. I am new to this whole taking pictures of my delicious food thing, so next time I will try to capture the meal before I go at it with my knife. At least I hadn't smothered it in ketchup yet!

January 28, 2013: not too helpful

This was the view I got from my back up camera!