Missin' my Papaw

Today is the first anniversary of my Papaw's death. In ways, I can't believe a year has already gone by, but in other ways it seems like forever since I have seen him. I miss him very much, but I know he is in a better place, free of the pain that the cancer brought on his body. I am so glad I was able to spend time with him before he passed and my only regret is not waking him up and telling him I loved him when I left. He passed away about an hour later. I just wished I had another chance to tell him how much I appreciate all he did for our family and for being such a loving, proud grandparent.

I LOVE my digital scrapbooking software!

I have been working on our moving announcements this week and this is what I have so far. I printed them to Walgreens to see what they look like and I have to say I was very pleased! 

 

Happy Father's Day

I have always considered myself lucky to have the Dad that I do. My Dad would give the shirt off his back to anyone, and literally he probably has. Dad would sacrifice anything to make sure his family was happy. When I was a little girl, before my sister was old enough to know she was being left out, my Dad would bring me something home from work everyday. My Mom said I would sit by the door waiting to see "what Daddy was bringing me today". My Dad has been there for me recently and given me advice that I really needed and without him I am not sure where I would be today. I LOVE him more than anything and thank God for blessing me with my Dad. 

Happy Anniversary !

Today is our 4 year anniversary. We have come along way and are still working on our marriage and ourselves but we are headed in the right direction! FINALLY!!! As Kim (David's mom)  says "I deserve a metal". Ha Ha! When you love someone you do whatever it takes to make it work. We have a sign that will hang in our house that describes us perfectly,

"We may not have it all together, 

but together we have it all."

My Anniversary Present to David

For the last year David and I have been living in my parent's travel trailer to save money so that we could buy a house this summer. Our plan sounded great at the time, but we quickly found out when your goal is to save- other things happen that prevent it. For example, my husband totaled BOTH, yes BOTH of our vehicles. Thank GOD for Gap insurance, but we still had to use our savings for a down payment on my car. We are still shopping for him a car and hope to have one by the end of the summer. A few weeks ago we moved the trailer back to Mom and Dad's because it was not working out- if I had to stay one more night I would have run away! We are still about six months from finishing our debt consolidation (we will be debt free yeah!!!!!) so we were not ready to buy and I was going nuts living in my parent's living room. I have been watching Craigslist and the paper for rental homes, but one day I came across this really cute house, close to our parents, and to work. I liked it and called to set up an appointment to see it, but when they called back I had a virus and decided to wait awhile to look at it. I thought the rent was kind of high and thought I would just keep looking. Fast forward a few weeks and I came home and looked at the site again to see what was available. I could not believe my eyes- the rent on the house had dropped $100 a month. I had been praying every night for God to show me a sign on what I was supposed to do- keep living with the parents for six months, get an apartment, keep looking for houses..... I took this as my sign, called the guy back and took my parents to look at it with me. I told David about it but told him I was not really sure, etc........ I LOVED it when I saw it and my parents said it was a really good deal, and we have an option to buy if we like it once we move in. I got a call back the next day and they told me they were waiting on my rental history from the apartment, but there was another application and if it went through first- we would not get it. I called the apartment and let them have it (I know does not sound like me at all). I then get a call back that we got it - everything looks good-expect a call from the broker. After two hours, no call, I get nervous. I call back and they inform me that both applications went through at the same time and now they wanted to know if I would go up on the rent. What do I do? I want to be firm, but if the other people decide to go up- we lose. I decide I would offer $5 more a month and at this point I have pretty much decided we would lose the house. About 10 minutes later David calls. He says "did you get a house because these people are calling me and asking me when we want to sign the lease?" So much for keeping it a surprise. We went to sign the lease the next day and the broker told me two of us were competing, and three people were holding waiting to put in an application. I think it was pure luck that I looked at the site that night and called the agent back. Here are some pics of the house before we move in.

David's wood building
Kitchen
Front of the house
 Guest bathroom

The house has been completely remodeled! Stay tuned for some "after pics".

Can you say annoying...

I am never really one to get bothered by stars who are always in the media doing stupid things. I even still like Britney Spears and we all know what a mess she was. But I really am annoyed by these two....



I always tivo'd the Hills and watched it every now and then- I did not really get into it. I knew Spencer was a JERK and could not understand why Heidi was with him. But since they have gotten married and joined this reality show, quit, rejoined and were "tortured" I now have ZERO tolerance. The only torture involving these two are the torture of having to see their faces and listen to their TOTAL B.S. Sorry- I needed to rant today!

New haircut and color

Something different for the SUMMER!!

I am not gonna cry....

Every year on the last day of school, despite my best efforts, I shed a few tears. I know your probably thinking I am nuts- I am off for the summer- shouldn't I be celebrating. I think that most of the time we teachers get caught up in the hustle of the endless to do lists to close the school year that time gets away. And then all of the sudden the bell rings that last day and the students are gone, some of which you may never see again. This year has been TOUGH. I remember thinking to myself, "this year I wont shed a tear- I will celebrate". I ended up having to leave early that last day to go sign a lease on our house. I was in such a rush and pushed the kids out the door telling them bye, giving them hugs and wishing them a good summer. I got in my car and it hit me- I cried harder than I ever had before. Maybe it was my emotions because all of the changes in my life?? I have thought about it for the last couple of days and I came to the conclusion that it was because more than any other year- these kids needed me- as a teacher, friend and role model. And when I came back to school Monday to turn in my keys, gradebook,etc. I could not resist capturing some of their messages to share.

White Trash Shower Pics

My Duct Tape Creation


Rockin' a Black Eye




Dana looks like a trucker chick!

Yipeee!!!! It's Summer time!

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To...
1. Moving into our house July 1st
2. Sleeping in my bed again
3. Decorating the house
4. David getting a new truck finally!
5. the white trash wedding shower tonight
6. Being done with summer school
7. Keeping Presley and London when Jaime is in NYC
8. Starting a family

8 Things I Did Yesterday...
1. Played in the staff volleyball game
2. Had a cookout with my 5th graders for the last day of school
3. Signed a lease on a house
4. Cried when I got in my car leaving school (see blog to come)
5. Went to tan with Dad
6. Went shopping with David
7. Ordered some vinyl lettering for the house
8. Did the splits, a Yscale and jumps for my students- oh yeah I still can!!

8 Things I Wish I Could Do...
1. Find somehting to wear to the white trash wedding shower
2. Buy new bedroom furniture
3.Go on vacation
4. Go on a shopping spree
5. Lose weight
6. Get my door fixed
7. Start a family now
8. Hire someone to move all of my stuff

8 Shows I Watch...
1. The Bachelorette
2. Castle
3. General Hospital
4. Tori and Dean
5. Desperate housewives
6. Grey's Anatomy
7. Private Practice
8. The Newlyweds

8 People I Tag...
1. Dana
2. Mom
3. Kim C.
4. Michelle
5. Kelli (already did it)
6. Kristin (already did it)
7. Jaime
8. Julie

After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said:

'Let me see if I've got this right. 
'You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning. 
'You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride. 
'You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job. 
'You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the final exams. 
'You also want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents in English, Spanish or any other language, by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card. 
'You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps.

'You want me to do all this and then you tell me. . . I CAN'T PRAY?'

Grandpa's Surprise Party

I just now remembered that I never posted pictures from Grandpa's surprise party from Napoli's. The camera was out of batteries so I was not going to take any, but my husband snuck it out and started taking them anyway. So if quality is bad- there's your reason!