My Good King

This morning my curious little second-grader pulls this ornament off the tree and asks me a very innocent question. The ornament is one that was made for me by my cousin when I was in middle school, and it has my picture on it (my sixth-grade picture). Here is a photo of the well-worn, once-upon-a-time-glittery ornament: So, he pulls it off the tree and while he's holding it, asks me with an innocent smile on his face, "Is this an artifact?" Obviously he's been learning about artifacts in school. He has been asking me that question often anyway since he learned the term in school a couple of months ago. Of course, I just started howling when he asked me that, and even though I tried to explain what's so funny, the joke is completely lost on him :) Made my day, so I thought it too good to keep to myself! ;)

Sorry. I'm just really overwhelmed right now, and just SO not in the mood to blog. I'll give it another try tonight. I guess the biggest news is that I'm now officially a teacher again :) Part time (whew!), as in Mondays and Fridays. So, I have to share this incredible (and I do mean INCREDIBLE) story with y'all. The irony (and God's twisted sense of humor) are way too over the top for me to pass up. So, four and a half years ago, I got fired from my last teaching job after six years with good evaluations and no forewarning. It's a nice little trick that this district does to avoid paying high salaries to tenured teachers--get rid of them when they're up for tenure; then you can hire a new teacher to take their place and save money. So, it worked out for the best 'cause I got to be a stay-at-home mom for the past three years (that had been my dream for a L-O-N-G time). BUT, time never completely removed the sting of being fired (and to be honest, the res...

I'm only sharing this story because it's funny, and so typical of me. Anyone who knows me well will smile and nod their head when reading this. So, I go to pick Ashley up after school yesterday. I left a couple of minutes later than usual, so I was in a hurry. I decided to skip the shoes because she comes to the car anyway, and it was only going to be a few minutes (yes, I'm aware it's against the law to drive with no shoes). However, just as the door closes, I realize I accidentally left the keys in the house. Oops. There is no spare handy, and all the windows are closed. So after picking Ashley up, we drove to Carlito's work to get his key (only one hour each way in rush hour traffic!). He wasn't there when we arrived (he was fixing a problem at another clinic), so we had to wait. I, of course, told the kids we would wait in the car because I was soooo not going to show up at the clinic in my bare feet looking for my husband. After sitting there for ...

so tired, so it's going to be super short tonight. So tired 'cause I'm in the middle of a rather large photography assignment, so I drive there every morning after dropping the kids off. I come home about an hour before the time to pick them up, eat lunch, veg on the sofa, pick them up, edit photos, scrape something together for dinner, etc. Question that keeps running through my head: How am I going to be able to keep up the house when I go back to work full time??!! I try to ignore it, but it's there. BUT ... I very wisely scheduled myself off tomorrow (LOVE this working for myself, lol!), so I'll head here after dropping the kids off and spend a few hours editing photos while sipping a coffee--or two :) And ... I got to have lunch with my husband today because I happened to be taking pictures at the clinic he oversees. We also ate with the guy who offered me the assignment, which was cool 'cause I don't really know him that well, but I'd like to. T...

Well, it went much better than I could have anticipated. The instructer could almost be a stand-up comic. He's a very reasonable guy, makes the class as interesting and easy as possible. All of us in there are teachers, and I am enjoying hearing a little bit about the world of middle school and the world of high school. By the end of the class, I'll be able to design my own webpage, have an entire lesson in PowerPoint (I'm doing an introductory lesson on tropical rainforests), edit digital film, and I'm not sure what else. Quite a lot for 4 days of instruction. It was nice to hang out with a bunch of the teachers at lunchtime, too. But I must say that I behaved like a "bad" student when he surprised us with homework due the next day (we'd already spent all day in class; then we had to go home and do our homework), and before I could restrain myself, I heard myself say, "due tomorrow?? tomorrow?" Unfortunately, his hearing is better than mi...

That's what Ashley told me when she checked my blog and discovered that I had failed to tell you about an important milestone in her life ('cause I guess that not even my blog gets to be ALL ABOUT ME!!--lol!). So, like the dutiful mother I am, I am here to tell you that ... … my “baby” started high school this year —feeling the same way the rest of us (and her class) felt—overwhelmed, extremely intimidated, rather confused, and terrified of being at the bottom of the high school food chain (apparently freshman are fondly referred to as “fresh meat”). Do you remember your first days of high school? In spite of my best attempts to erase those memories from my mind, I can still vividly recall feeling the same way for the entire first month. The words “lost” and “frightened” would aptly describe my emotional state those first several weeks. However, my baby has bounced back much more quickly than her mother did and has adjusted well to this monumental step in her life. I have ...

On my mind right now: nervous about going to class tomorrow and Sunday (I'm so old now that I will look like one of those "old hags" I used to see in my classes and wonder what on earth they're still doing in school when they're old already (hmm... what comes around goes around, huh?! I would have been much better off repenting for those judgmental thoughts, lol!) What do people bring to class nowadays? Do they bring their laptops and take notes on that? Do they still use notebooks? (I'm bringing both so I have both options covered.) Are we going to have homework? Is it going to be a B-O-R-I-N-G lecture-type format, or is it going to be hands-on? (It's a class about integrating technology in the classroom.) Will people be dressed casual or will they be dressed up? (I'm going casual 'cause that's the kind of gal I am.) Mostly, why am I obsessing so much about this? Normally I could care less. I'm not there to meet people--just to pass the cl...

I just wanted to document this interesting relationship. Ashley met her cousin about two years ago, but they just clicked immediately. They saw each other a few times over the course of a couple of months, and then her cousin (and their family) returned to the Philippines. She would always ask about this cousin when Carlito went back. They have just moved here, and Ashley has only seen her this one day, but she just really loves her. I don't know if her cousin feels as deeply as Ashley does, but judging by the way they hung out together that day (they were inseparable again), I would suspect the feeling is mutual. They text each other, too. They both share a love of reading and have read the Twilight Saga. I was lucky enough to catch this shot of them poring over something in Barnes and Noble.

I've been going to Vacationland these past couple of weeks, reliving our vacation this summer so I can forget about the stress of starting school, job hunting, paperwork for job hunting, photoshoot, etc. So I thought I'd take you with me and share just a few pics of our first couple of days in Texas (that was our first stop). We went there to spend some time with Carlito's family. It was great (except for the extreme heat and humidity, lol!). This is a photo of some of the family we visited. We were at a pool. I took the picture before everyone started wilting from the heat :) This is Ashley and her two favorite cousins. They're always together. This is a great example of the huge spread of food they have when they get together. It just cracks me up every time. I LOVE it!! And check it out ... they took us to a mall with an ICE SKATING RINK inside it!! Is that too cool or what??!! Perfect in the summer :) (excuse the glare; there were a ton of people, and t...

Sitting here so tired ... I haven't even started back to work yet, but getting everything together to look for a job is like having a job--lots of running around. Tomorrow I go to my alma mater (caps?) to get my transcripts from one of the THREE schools I need them from. That will take all morning; plus I have to get my books for the class I'll be attending two weekends. It will feel SOOOO weird to be back in school. I just realized today that I'll need a notebook or a binder. What a dork, huh?, showing up for class with only my books??!! Seriously, I am soooo done with the whole school thing. ... unless, of course, it would be a photography class or graphic arts class--but they don't count toward renewing my credential. Bummer. One more "tidbit" I should share with you. Seriously, I am in SOOOO over my head (shhhh!) , but I'm also excited. I have been given the opportunity to take a whole slew of photos for my brother-in-law's dental offices, photos w...

Okay. Sorry about the THREE MONTH hiatus from blogging. Don't know what came over me. I really don't know. This post is soooo hard. Like I've been away so long, and there's waaaay too much to catch up on, so where do I begin? Well, enough rambling. We had our first "real" (a.k.a. "airplane") vacation in six years. And we made the most of it: visited Carlito's relatives in Houston, TX (sorry, Samantha, Abilene was too far) drove to New Orleans (O my gosh, I LOVED it!!) flew to New York City (love to visit, but could ncver live there) took the train to Washington, D.C. to visit my brother and sister-in-law and my ADORABLE two-year-old niece!! day tripped it to Philadelphia, PA flew home ... all in 12 days! Whew! No wonder I needed a week of naps when we got back--I'm with you on naps, Teena! We had a total blast. I'm still scrapping DAY ONE, though. Hmmm. Maybe I'll be done by next summer :) ... and I'm currently in the ...

Sorry. Just the usual stuff, only I'm not handling it so well. Hopefully things will get better as the summer progresses (although summers have a funny way of being anything BUT relaxing, lol! So, what have I been doing the past month? Not a lot. Just your usual: stuff for the P.T.A. lots of gardening (I'm a newbie at gardening, so it's time consuming) PAPER scrapping, for a change :) hosted Bunco (Hi, Samantha! Saw myself on your blog :) ) Trying to come up with some sort of a routine for the summer so we don't get bored (that's code for "so the kids don't drive me crazy!") Prepping for the end-of-the-year ceremony for the Sunday night class I teach at my church. "catch up" cleaning in the kitchen and bedroom cleaned up the back patio Ashley's graduation from 8th grade (more on that later ... boo hoo! :) ) So, nothing earth-shattering, but I'm overwhelmed just the same. I was on serious burnout yesterday, so I promised myself a three...

I have no excuse for not blogging. Just lazy. Sorry. I hope everyone had a relaxing Memorial Day spent enjoying our wonderful freedom which has come at a great price. I am truly so thankful for all the brave men and women who have given their lives so I can sit here comfortably in my own home and write this post and live the life of comfort that I do. And a special "Thank You" to all those who have served or are currently serving in the Armed Forces (including your entire family). I know it is truly a sacrifice, and I do appreciate it. I got to fulfill a little dream of mine last weekend, thanks to my family and a family friend. For over a year now I have wanted to take our family to the beach and have a family photoshoot. I just LOVE the beach, and sunset is the PERFECT time to take photos--the lighting is incredible. I just wanted to experiment and play around creatively to get some good shots. Well, I didn't get the shots I had in my mind--I wanted more "candid st...

This was my lovely Ashley when I picked her up from school today. Does she have "teenager" written all over her face or what?! She's come home like this before and I just think it's so cute. :) Apparently one of her friends didn't get to contribute and was upset that her lip print was not included on Ashley's face. Is this some new fad I'm unaware of? Or did I miss out on this when I was growing up (that's entirely possible, lol!)? And the shirt she's wearing is from one of her best friends. They went on the D.C. trip last week, and she didn't get to go, so her friend brough her a souvenir. How sweet, huh?! (I'm sure it helped that the T-shirts were 7 for $10.00!).

Has it really been almost a month since I've posted? Oh my gosh. Sorry about that. I really have nothing to blame it on except laziness when the kids go to bed. But ... a lot has happened ... ... including my 40th birthday. It was a lot better than 30. I remember when I turned 30 I had sort of an identity crisis--as long as I was in my twenties, I was "young" and "hip." (well, in all honesty, I was never young and hip, but it was easier to fool myself into believing I was, lol!) . When I turned thirty, I remember thinking, "Oh my gosh, I'm OLD!!" I remember that thought haunting me for days before and after my actual birthday. This time it was like, "Yeah, whatever. Another year older ... another year wiser. It's fine." The best part of getting older is that I really am mellowing with age--things that used to stress me out beyond belief will hardly cause me to bat an eye now. And I truly like myself way more now than I did at 30. I...

Oh my gosh!! I am soooooo over-the-top excited right now ... because our school had a Jog-A-Thon today, and I got to be the official photographer!!! Yeah!! It was totally nervewracking (because I'm sooo a novice at this, and what if all the pictures turn out blurry, over/underexposed, if I forget to take certain pictures, etc.). I kept thinking as I was clicking away, "Everyone is counting on ME, little 'ol me, to take some good pictures, and I'm kind of learning as I go. I am going to die of embarrassment if they all come out badly. And I'll be so sad because I won't get asked to take pictures anymore." :( Well, the PTA President (Hi, Mary Jo!) and I previewed some of the pictures after the Jog-A-Thon and I did get some good ones. But when I looked at home, some of the pictures came out blurry (don't panic, Mary Jo, we still got a bunch of good ones). As I'm looking at these blurry photos, I kept asking myself why--then I figured it ou...

I went to a lovely Women's Retreat with my very sweet sister-in-law this past weekend. I always look forward to this retreat, and this year I decided I want to make a mini album of what the retreat means to me. So most of my free time (in between catching up on laundry and housework :) ) has been spent creating these pages that I thought I'd share with you. I'm really excited about this album because I'm going to create it all digitally and attempt to create my very own "real" book, with real book binding materials and scrapbook paper. So here are some of the pages I've made so far: And check it out: I get to go on another Women's Retreat with a bunch of ladies I used to work with ... this weekend :) I am soooo excited! So I will be really holy when I come back, lol!

Sorry I haven't blogged for a while. I've been knee deep in gardening and PTA stuff. I LOVE being back at "MY" school as a volunteer :) In a way, it kind of feels like home. It was a big part of my life for six years, and it feels good to have a "place" on that campus and "belong" again. And gardening ... we haven't done ANY landscaping to the backyard (and very little in the front yard) for the entire six years we've been here. BUT ... this year I decided I would like to have a decent view to look at, so I've been very busy planning a garden. It's still in the very beginning stages, but here are a "few" pictures to give you an idea. So far I've only taken pictures of the backyard. The part of the backyard I'm by far the proudest of is my "Herb Garden." I planned it and constructed it myself (well, Carlos helped me, too). Isn't it cute?! And Ashley and I have "stolen" herbs already :) We als...

An acquaintance shared this with me a couple of years ago. She didn't know it, but I was going through a really tough time--one of the toughest I have ever faced. This spoke to me in such a powerful way, and I have thought of it many times since. Found it online and wanted to share. Hope it blesses someone like it blessed me. I had a new amazement for God's Word after reading this, and I wonder what other amazing analogies can be found in the Bible that I haven't discovered yet. Here goes: Malachi 3:3 says: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curio...

This was emailed to me today by a friend, and I got such a kick out of it that I want to pass on the laughter :) If you've already seen this, just ignore it. 25 REASONS I OWE MY MOTHER 1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE."If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finishedcleaning." 2. My mother taught me RELIGION."You better pray that will come out of the carpet." 3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL."If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle ofnext week!" 4. My mother taught me LOGIC."Because I said so, that's why." 5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC."If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me." 6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT."Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident." 7. My mother taught me IRONY"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about." ...

Just a quick post tonight. It dawned on me a few days ago that I'm already behind in my "Year . In . Review" layouts, so I put February's together. Believe it or not, for such a simple concept, these layouts took about three hours combined. I couldn't believe it! Anyway, these photos depict the highlights of February. Maybe tomorrow I'll do March :) (I wonder how many hours that will take?!) Just in case you're wondering, Carlos is still sick--no fever, just a sore throat now. Hopefully he'll go back to school on Tuesday ('cause I need some "me" time before I turn into a monster, lol!). 'Cause as you all know, life is all about me, right ;) Happy Monday, y'all!

That's how I feel right now. I haven't had "girl" time with a bunch of women for almost two months now (for different reasons). I have, however, really been craving it ... to go out with a bunch of my Christian friends, and just have fun and hang out--and talk about girl stuff. I had the perfect opportunity this morning. I was soooooo excited. My sister-in-law had a tea party at her house. We set up and prepared as much food as possible yesterday. I made arrangements for childcare for Carlos (it was a mother-daughter tea). She was going to have a Christian speaker that I was looking forward to. I was just waiting for the moment when I could arrive and enjoy the fellowship with other women. She had invited about thirty total (mothers and daughters included). I LOVE being in a roomful of Christian women just discussing life and the Lord. LOVE it. And then ... ... about 5 o'clock this morning, Carlos comes to me (in bed, of course) and tells me his tum...

In case you're confused about the title, it's because we went exploring new territory like Lewis and Clark (only somehow I don't think our exploration will make the front page, lol!). We went back to my latest favorite hangout on Monday ... and we had company!! My sister-in-law, her aunt, and a bunch of my nieces and nephews came along for the fun. That was sooo cool!! My sister-in-law overheard one of the kids ask (as they exited the car), "What are we going to do here, anyway?" They asked again later, and my sister-in-law very simply replied, "We're going to have a picnic." Here's a picture of us enjoying our picnic soon after we arrived. As soon as they finished eating, one by one they scampered off into the tall weeds to explore and discover. You could hear their laughter and conversation, but you couldn't see them :) I, of course, couldn't resist the urge to snap a "few" (emphasis on few ) photos, so this is them scamper...