Bridesmaid Dresses....Check!

Check one more thing off the wedding planning list!

We found the bridesmaid dresses today! If you go to www.davidsbridal.com and search for F13277. The dress we got is in "Apple" and got super cute shoes that we will have died black. I'm really pleased with how it all turned out and the girls who went with me today all loved them and looked great in them.

We also today found invitations that we really liked so I bought one box so that I can mess around with them and get them just how we want them.

We set some dates for important events:

Family Bridal Shower
Bach. Party
And of course....one more skydiving trip!

Next up on the wedding planning list for next week:

Meet with lady who is doing our cake! (Monday!)
Start registering! (Monday!)
Figure out where we are having the rehearsal dinner
Have the family budget meeting

Save the Dates!

Yay for having our save the dates done and ordered!

Here's the picture we put on it:

Christmas Break thus far...

I adore Christmas break!

Here's what has occurred so far:

Saturday: Pat and I went to Angela's wedding in Wabash. It was absolutely beautiful! I then had my Grandma's family Christmas at her house in Rochester. Pat had to coach a high school basketball game at LaVille so he couldn't come to that. That evening my sister and I stayed the night at my parents house.
Sunday: My mom's side of the family went out to breakfast in Rochester so Pat met us down at my parents and then we all went together. Afterwards I ran up to my house in Warsaw to make sure that everything was set for another showing (showing #4!) then went to North Liberty for the afternoon to spend time with Pat's family. His brother, Phil, is here from Texas so it was fun to hang out with them. I left for a while so that they could have brother time and went to South Bend to work on Christmas shopping.
Monday: Lottsssss more Christmas shopping with Pat in South Bend/Mishawaka. A friend of ours then came over to the house to do some estimates for us to finish the basement then I left to go to Valpo to have dinner with my two dear friends, Laura and Rachelle. Laura and I are MoH's in Rachelle's wedding in July so we were making weddingy plans.
Tuesday: Mom and I went wedding dress shopping and found the dress. I LOVE it. It's so pretty and I can't believe that we go it today! Even better I got everything to go with it--the veil/hairpiece/earrings/necklace/bracelet/shoes at the same store. I bought it from a store in Fort Wayne called The Perfect Dress....love it! We just got back from that and I'm exhausted.
Tomorrow I have a little Christmas shopping to finish up/have a massage appointment/have to get the house ready for showing #5 (woohoo!) and then have to go to the Walkerton house because Pat and I are hosting a dinner tomorrow night. Christmas will be filled with getting our Save the Date pictures taken on Christmas Eve then having his family Christmas that evening. Christmas day we will be with my family. Then the following day we're bridesmaid dress shopping then I have a bridal shower in Valpo on Sunday. Christmas break is going to flyyyyy by!!!!

Wedding Plans...

Wedding planning could be like a full time job I'm pretty sure!!! Who knew that SOOOOO many details would need to go into ONE day. It's crazy.....but I secretly love it. I was way overwhelmed for a while but I'm good again. I like that we're getting things handled early and not waiting in terms of the planning. I'm planning to spend a lot of time over Christmas break doing stuff plus I'll have some time especially after family Christmas gatherings are over. Here are some highlights of the planning process.
--Ceremony will be at 1:30 p.m. at Warsaw Community Church. We are sooooo excited to get married there. I really wanted to get married in my the church that I grew up in in Rochester but it wouldn't be big enough but it would have been free. The space was really the issue plus WCC is the church that we attend so we feel good about getting married there. We are also very excited about who is marrying us. I know him very well because he is the husband of one of my dear friends. It makes me excited.
--Decorating WCC is next to impossible because it's so big but we are planning to put red roses on our aisle runner because our colors are red and black. Use my parent's unity candle. My mom is going to make these things to put at the end of all the aisles. We are also going to have a picture frame for guests to sign when they arrive.


--We are having six in the bridal party on each side. The girls are going to wear strapless black dresses with red sashes and carry red flowers.
----Wedding dress.....going shopping twice next week and will hopefully find the perfect one!
--We hired a wedding coordinator and florist. I feel wayyy good about hiring a wedding coordinator. We just need her to set everything up. I'm going to provide directions/diagrams of how things are to be set up and then she is going to do it all. Plus she will make sure that everything runs smoothly the day of, which I really appreciate. It's a mother/daughter team and they are really good at what they do!
--Hiring a photographer was way overwhelming but I think we found the perfect fit! It's actually a family friend so they made us an amazing deal and are considering the rest our wedding present....perfect!!!
--We are going to have our engagement pictures taken sometime in January when it snows.
--I found a guy who is from my fiance's hometown to be our DJ that came highly recommended that I'm way excited about.
--We are currently looking into rehearsal dinners....we think it's either going to be Boathouse or American Table.
--Instead of a traditional guest book we are getting one from www.guestbookstore.com and getting one. It's mildly expensive but I think it will mean more than just a regular one. Each person will take a page at the reception and fill it out. We will have a table full of markers/pens and a basket to put the completed pages in. At the end of the night we will have someone designated to assemble the book so that we can take it with us. It's kind of like a scrapbook and the guests answer questions about you.
--We found Save the Date magnets that I love on www.magnetstreet.com We plan to finish those up over break and get them ordered.
--I found invitations online through www.weddingpaperdivas.com that I adore. BUT the price tag is astronomical. So you can order a sample for $1.00 which I did so that I can go around to different stores and try to find something similar to look into printing them myself.
--The guest list....has honestly been the most stressful and hardest piece of the wedding planning thus far. I will be soooo glad for that to be all the way done. I'm almost 98% done right now. But we may have to cut some more people off the list and that's hard. Our guest list is out of control big because of family dynamics on my fiance's side.
--We are registering over Christmas break at: Home Depot or Sears, Warsaw Cut Glass, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Target.
--We will decide officially on our menu for the reception after a tasting that we will go to in January.
--I'm meeting with the lady who is doing our cake over Christmas. I've been trying to look at different cakes online but keep it relatively simple.
--Centerpieces...oh my. I'm pretty sure that we are going to do black table linens with red table runners and then we have a few different ideas going in terms of centerpieces but are trying really hard to keep this part under control financially because the rest gets out of control really fast. I'm going to put together some options over Christmas and then have family pick their favorites.
--The night of our wedding we are staying at Swan Lake Resort in Plymouth. http://swanlakeresort.com/
--The following day we are opening gifts with family and friends at our house.
--Then we are leaving for Chicago to leave for our honeymoon in Hawaii. :) www.turtlebayresort.com
--Once we return I am a maid of honor in a wedding that same week. So we return on a Monday/I host a bach. party in Chicago on Wednesday/rehearsal dinner on Friday then wedding on Saturday.
--Needless to say the planning is coming right along!!! We have a big list to do over Christmas break but after that I feel like we won't have to worry as much about it which is perfect because we have lots of house stuff to deal with on both houses.
--Chapters in life are definitely changing!!

For Sale...

It's official. My house is on the market. We signed all the paperwork yesterday and today the sign will go up along with the listing online. We are fortunate that we already have a showing tonight but we'll see how that goes. We have quickly and rudely learned that this is not the time to be selling a house because of the market conditions but we have no other options so we are placing it in the Lord's hands and hoping for a quick sell. We priced it so that it will hopefully sell really quick. This process has definitely already been really emotional for me but I know that we are doing the right thing...it still doesn't make it any easier. I have absolutely loved my house and have been incredibly blessed to be able to have that house but that chapter is starting to close. We are hoping it sells quickly so that I can move back into my parents house until we marry in July and hopefully save a lot of money that way. We have most certainly been making a lot of really hard life decisions in the past two weeks but it's worth it. :)

Another semester down!!! :)

Woohoo!! As of right now I am home sick with a ridiculous cold BUT I just finished everything for grad school this semester!!! This semester has been pretty rough but I made it. I am SOOOOO incredibly excited to have 3 weeks off grad school so that I can think about other things for a while like wedding stuff probably. I will need to enjoy every second of that time off because I'm going to take 3 more classes next semester. Yikes. That semester has potential to be worse just because the classes are pretty intense that I'm taking, I will be planning a wedding, selling this house, moving in with my parents, remodeling my future house, and coaching. It could be a long semester....hopefully it goes fast. :)

Excitement!! :)

So wedding planning is coming along beautifully!!! We have the following reserved....

Church
Reception Hall
Photographer
Wedding Coordinator
Cake
DJ
Florist (meeting with her tonight!)
Appointments set to wedding dress shop!
Appointment to put my house on the market--this part is wayyy stressful.
Currently working on the guest list---who knew that part could be sooo stressful. And then sending out save the dates.

But....the best part!! Our honeymoon is booked and better yet it was a gift to us! We will be traveling to Hawaii for a week!!!! http://www.turtlebayresort.com/ We are sooooooo incredibly excited!!!

New Chapter in Life....

I still feel like my head is spinning and that I'm in a dream. As of Tuesday, December 1st Pat and I are engaged to be married on July 10, 2010. We are sooooo incredibly excited to start planning for our next chapter of life together. I still feel like I am in shock though! I knew that this was coming but I didn't know exactly when and I still can't believe it's true. He asked me Tuesday evening after going to my parents to ask for permission. Our families are sooo incredibly excited about this, which makes me even more excited. My ring is absolutely beautiful and I can't stop looking at it in fact!! :) We are planning to marry at Warsaw Community Church followed by a reception at The Feast www.feastbanquetsandcatering.com in Lakeville. This is to accommodate both our families. We already have those venues booked, which is a huge reflief. Since we are having a relatively short engagement we feel pressed to start getting everything else taken care of as well....I won't lie it's overwhelming. But I'm blessed because Pat is awesome at taking care of things and thinking ahead. He has done so much already. And both our families are incredible. We are currently trying to figure out the photographer/dj/cake/florist. We are trying to shop around a bit on that stuff to save money...I'm learning the hard way that it's incredibly difficult to save money on a wedding--wow. Another end to this is the fact that we will be selling my home in Warsaw--this comes with all sorts of mixed emotions. I don't think it's really hit me yet. Since the tax credits have been extended to April 30th we need to sell fast. Unfortunately, this will make me homeless.....but I plan to move in with either mom/dad or Heather until July. We will then both live in his home in Walkerton. This decision was hard. We pretty much are forced to live there because he bought his house this year so you have to remain for three years due to the tax credit and he's a high school coach so that commits us even more to that area. I will not quit my job in Warsaw but I will commute. It is 45 miles each way but I will make it work. We plan to do a lot of work to his house before I move in like finish the basement/paint/new floors/etc. Needless to say, we're going to be way busy but we are so excited!!!! :)

What an eventful week!

What an eventful/action packed week! Here are some of the highlights. There are pictures to come but my USB cord is at work...

**On Tuesday my wonderful boyfriend sent me roses to work. During my prep I was walking up to the office to check my mail and as I walked through the hallway some teachers were making weird comments to me about how they were so jealous of me...I had no idea what they were talking about. Finally, someone said, "Your flowers are beautiful!" Apparently, they had been up there for a while because everyone seemed to know about them. I had a dozen red roses waiting for me in the office for absolutely no reason. Love it. :)
**I bought a new car! I had bought my previous car, Cali the Cavalier, when I was a sophomore at Purdue so I had her for a long time. I absolutely loved that car but it was time to part ways. There were a lot of reasons why I finally decided to get rid of it but the main reason is since there is 45 miles between my boyfriend and I and 45 miles between my sister and me...I was putting more miles on this poor car than ever. It might have lasted a while longer but I would have needed to start putting money into it and it's not worth it. An amazing opportunity came up to buy a 2008 Jetta that had less than 3,000 miles on it. So it was pretty much like buying a new car for a used car price...even better! I teared up a little bit trading in Cali but was super excited to get the Jetta. This car is so nice.....love it. I'm ridiculously blessed. I even bought a Purdue license plate for the Jetta because I had made myself a deal that my next car would have a Purdue plate so I went ahead and did it. That for sure added to the excitement/craziness of the week as there were multiple trips to South Bend over this....this all happened really fast as most things in my life seem to these days.
**My boyfriend and I had put together Halloween baskets for our friends who have kids and delivered them one night. It was so fun to watch them get excited over the smallest things.
**On Friday I had my carpets shampood while I was at work. They look great.
**On Saturday Dad and I had a fall work day at my house. We hung up this really cool sign that my boyfriend bought me (have I mentioned that he's really great.), collected leaves, weedeated, trimmed shrubs, mowed, fertilized the yard, pressure washed the house, and changed the furnace filter. Dad is a huge help to me on those things because he likes doing that stuff. I don't mind but it's nice to have him help me. That was for sure an all day event.
**Started going back to spinning classes. After a long hiatus from spinning I started going back. I did miss it. I still like running better but since it gets dark at 6:00 p.m. now that could become complicated.
**Had Halloween shenanigans to attend.
**My boyfriend's father, who resides in VA, came on Friday night and is staying with Pat till Thursday. We have been trying to spend as much time with him as possible since that time is limited. We watched the ND game last night because that's what he loves to do and caught up on all life's events. Today we went to brunch at Bob Evan's and went shopping for house stuff for Pat. They are now at ND for a basketball game. My boyfriend comes from a ND loving family!
**Now I'm working on grad school like crazy....that will be the theme of this week. Yuck.

Fall Break '09

Ohhh.....I look at the clock and fall break 2009 is almost over. :( Typically, I travel over fall break but this year I decided to stay around here to save money, stay away from the flu, and spend quality time with my boyfriend. It has been quite wonderful. Thursday I spent the majority of the day catching up on things at my house, running errands, spent some time with my dad, and then had dinner with Pat's family. Friday Pat took a personal day and we spent the day together. We had aspirations of doing lots of 'fallish' things. Like going to a pumpkin patch, getting apple cider, etc. Friday the weather was horrible and it poured the whole day. So that got scratched and we spent the day in South Bend doing lots of random things like going to Lowe's and such. :) Friday night I hung out with my sister in South Bend. Saturday Pat surprised me and we went to the Notre Dame game vs. Boston College. It was COLD and RAINY but we still had a great time. Today my family and Pat's family all had a huge lunch together. It was really fun getting the two families together. Then tonight a bunch of Pat's friends children came over to his house and we made cookies together while their dad's all watched football. It was my goal to spend as little time as possible working on school stuff and grad school over break so that I could spend quality time with Pat. That was accomplished! The next few weeks grad school is going to get really intense again because I have to start working on final projects and the basketball season starts for Pat and he is a head coach for high school so I really cherished our time this weekend. Since we live kind of far apart and both lead very busy lives I have to really value the time that we have together and make the most of every moment. On another weekend note, I bought a new car! I bought a 2008 Jetta....it's beautiful. My car, Cali, has been very special to me and has been a great car but it's time to pass her onto someone who doesn't drive as much. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with my car but if I was going to keep it I would have had to start putting extreme money into it and it's not worth doing that because it's starting to get old. So an amazing opportunity came up to buy this Jetta and it only has 2,500 miles on it so I'm doing it. Everything has just kind of worked out with it! I will probably have it in a week or so once everything goes through with the bank. I'm excited for a new car but am sad to see my car go...:(

Time to breathe again....at least for a few minutes. :)

This past week was absolutely crazy. As many of you know, I have a huge midterm project for one of my classes due at midnight tomorrow night. I had to do a huge data and financial audit of our corporation plus tomorrow I have due 4 quizzes, two case studies, and a paper. Of course, last week did not go as planned at all and all sorts of unexpected events came up out of no where that I had to attend. And then after a full weekend of throwing my boyfriend a housewarming party for 60+ people, attending a birthday party for a precious one year old, and attending a smoker fundraiser I still got it all done. I'm glad to say that this week I just might get some sleep unlike last week. :) Good....just in time to do report cards. :)

Driving time...

Does anyone have any good recommendations of good quality things to listen to while driving besides music? Good podcasts that they have enjoyed? CD's? Books on tape? I'm really open to lots of suggestions...

I find myself driving a lot these days for a lot of reasons. One is because my boyfriend lives an hour away, I've been going to see my family a lot too which all require a great amount of driving. I find myself driving at weird times of night and feel like it's easy for me to 'waste' that time. I would love to find something worthwhile for my mind to feed on during that time because that time my thoughts usually get the best of me and cause me to worry about all sorts of things. I will be driving a lot more here in the nearest future as my boyfriend coaches high school basketball and I will be driving to lots of high school basketball games in northern Indiana.

Thoughts/suggestions? Because I'm just about sick of the radio........

Updates on life....

Life......is pretty crazy busy right now! It's great but I feel like it's busier than ever. Late last winter I constantly had this overwhelming feeling that my life could change quite a bit this year and that there were certain things that I needed to step down from because I wouldn't be able to handle them. I didn't understand what this was about but I trusted it and followed through. OH my I'm glad I did! I was just thinking tonight about how if I wouldn't have done that I don't know what I would have done! Of course, I miss those things that I was involved in that I'm not longer involved in but having sanity is pretty important too!

One of the biggest changes is my grad school work for my admin. lisc. I am on the accelerated track for this program so it's intense. I know that I'll look back one day and be glad that I did it this way but right now I question that. I'm taking 9 credit hours of graduate work right now and each class in itself is very intense....let alone three! I feel like on most days that I barely keep my head above water but I'm managing. I struggle with the balance of everything because I want to be the perfect teacher, student, daughter, sister, friend, girlfriend, etc. etc. etc. but something always has to give. I for sure don't have that balance down right now at all.

I have a super sweet class this year! I'm blessed to have this class with all that I have going on because I can't imagine dealing with lots of behavioral issues right now. I have taken on more leadership positions at our school and am continuing to tutor students in the morning. I love what I do though and am glad to have all the experiences that I can get.

I am running another half marathon with my sister in Fort Wayne this coming Saturday! I can't believe that it's here already! I feel like we're as ready as we'll ever be! I'm looking forward to it a lot. My body has become so used to the longer distance running that it cracks me up. I did a night run last week that would have in the past been tough but I did it without ever thinking twice about it. It's funny what your body can get used too... I'm highly contemplating running a full marathon on November 14th. I overtrained for this half marathon; therefore, I basically trained like I was training for a marathon. It wouldn't be fun but I could continue the training between this race and November 14th and be ready. Every Saturday or Sunday morning in October though would be filled with no so fun distances like 19 miles and such. It's something that I want to do though....who knows why! I think I like the challenge of it and with all that I have going on in my life those runs are something that I look forward to a lot I think it keeps me sane.

I feel like every weekend I have been somewhere fun and exciting. A few weeks ago I went to a Notre Dame football game with my boyfriend and two of his friends. Yesterday we went to a Purdue football game with two of my friends. Both games were lots of fun. I really enjoy athletic events like that! At yesterday's game we were surrounded by such fun people! Each of us had awesome people sitting beside us. The couple sitting beside me knew some of the same people that I did....crazy small world! I'm going to another Purdue game in October vs. Ohio State with my dad. I went on a fishing trip with my dad last weekend....too fun. We grew up fishing all the time with my dad so I went with him just the two of us. It was a lot of fun and we got to have really good conversation that we don't usually get to have because there are too many other people around.

Current Challenge

So if you know me well I always seem to have a goal or such that I'm working toward. I have multiple right now but the most recent is more of a challenge/competition. My boyfriend and I have made a challenge to see who can go the longest without drinking pop.....so far so good. :) He drinks a lot of pop and wanted to try to stop but needed the accountability so we decided to do it together. We're both a little competitive so we decided to make this challenge a little interesting. The person who loses (which won't be me!) has to do something that they definitely don't desire to do at all. If I lose I have to go hunting with him, which he loves, and I have no desire to do. If I win he will be running a half marathon with me.....let's just say he's a football/baseball player and definitely not a runner. At this rate, it could be a long long time before I have pop again because neither of us will give in.

What a Great Summer!!

Well it looks like the summer of '09 is wrapping up! It was such a great, great, great summer. Despite the fact that I taught summer school pretty much all summer and did the grad school thing I still had an amazing time doing lots and lots and lots of fun things. Since the last update here are some fun things that I have done:

~Went sky diving!!!! Woohoo!! :) It was so awesome--I loved it! We had such an incredibly fun/random weekend! I'm blessed to have friends/sister that are very spontaneous, fun, and pretty much just awesome. I would highly recommend that you go sometime!

~Went to Texas for a few days with Laura to visit Chelle and work on wedding stuff. The trip was great--the drive....not so much. Fortunately, Laura is fun to travel with so we made it fun. We told lots and lots of stories, learned lots of random stuff about each other's lives, memorized parts of the bible (not joking!), played games, and called anyone that would possibly be up at 2:00 a.m. to keep us entertained. There were some rough stretches but we did it. The good news--that trip was so cheap it was ridiclous since we drove!

~Taught summer school at Valley. Yep, it was challenging as it always is but we made it!

~Went to the Dunes for the day with my bf, and two of my lovely friends. We had a great time and it was great weather.

~Went to more weddings......with still more to come.

~Went camping last weekend at Potato Creek State Park--the weather was awful. Absolutely awful. I was never so glad to see my bed and air conditioning again in my life!!! But we had fun! My boyfriend and I went with his best friend's family. We made it fun but I would rather sleep in my bed than on the ground. :)

~Went to a casino for the first time in my life. We went to Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, MI. It is so big and so nice. I'm not much for gambling or the thought of losing money in general. But I just wanted to go once to say I had been. It was fun but I have no burning desire to return.

~Now I'm wrapping up the summer and ready for a new, fresh group of fifth graders! What is fun is I have already had some of these kids before when I taught 3rd grade. It's definitely going to be a good year. :) I will be taking three grad classes on top of working full time so we'll see how that goes. I have loved the past few weeks of not needing to worry about classes. It has been glorious!!! Classes start again a week from Monday. I'm glad that I still have that week so that I can get going at school and such. The first week is always tough. Two of my classes will be completely online and then one will be internet broadcasted every Tuesday from 4-7 p.m. so I will just stay at school till 7 on those nights.

~I have some more running events coming up. I'm running a 15K in two weeks with my friend Jill at the Blueberry Festival in Plymouth. Then running a half marathon in Fort Wayne at the end of September and then have a wedding in Muncie that afternoon--awesome. My sister and I are going to do a half marathon together in November in Columbia City so that will be way fun. Training for this half marathon has been really different than my last one. Probably because I know that I can do it and I just did one in May. I've still been training and all but not as hardcore. I have a ten mile run this weekend. I think that I'm going to solicit people to do it with me early Saturday or Sunday morning to get it over with.

~Some other random/fun things that I already have planned for the fall are: going to a Cubs game in a few weeks, taking my dad to the Purdue vs. OSU football game, going to other Purdue football games, ..... :)

Summerness....:)

So the summer of '09 is in full swing and it's flying by! :( I can't believe that tomorrow is JULY 1st!

**Today was the last day of the first round of summer school for me. I taught upcoming 4th grade kiddos. It was a blast....I loved it as always! I had a lot of kids but they were super fun but I must admit that today when it was time to go I realized how much they needed a break because they haven't had a break at all from school yet! We accomplished a lot in the past several weeks and I saw awesome awesome growth in all of them. I taught with an awesome team this year, which also made every day a lot of fun because we could just laugh at the craziness around us!

**I have a small amount of time off, which I'm super grateful for because I need a little bit of a break. I am one who still loves routine and structure, which is why I love still having summer school but I'll be glad for a few days to catch up! Tomorrow I have to go to Valley to plan out the summer school curriculum there so the 'catching up' will start in a few days. :)

**I am done with one grad class that I loved! It was my intro to educational administration class and I loved it. My other class will end at the end of July and let's just say I don't love it... It's one of the toughest courses in the whole program and it's just plain hard. Nothing about it is easy. I'll be throwing a party when it's over I'm pretty sure! I plan on focusing on it hard core next week to get ahead because I haven't been able to get ahead on it all summer because there is so much to do for it.

**In other news this summer has been awesome! I went to the Rascal Flatts concert at Verizon with Ash at the beginning of June and it was wonderful! And got to visit other college friends that weekend as well!

**The following weekend I sporadically went to Chicago to a concert with my friend Jill...it was so awesome! She had participated in the Avon Breast Cancer walk (39.3 miles!) the prior weekend and received two free Kenny Chesney concert tickets to Soldier Field. Little did we know that there were 7 bands that played until we got there! We got there at 3:00 and left at 1:00 in the morning! And they were all awesome.....Lady Antebellum, Sugarland, Kenny, and tons others....it was so much fun!

**I'm trying to get my act together and get running again consistently. I signed up for the Fort Wayne half marathon last week! It has been so hot and let's face it I haven't been getting up early before summer school. During the normal school year I get up really early and run/workout before school. There is so much social stuff going on in the summer and it always seems like the alarm clock loses and my pillow wins because I'm out and about later. I'm going to try to start getting up earlier again and getting the run over with because I like when I do that anyways.

**My school officially has a new principal for next year...he's awesome. I'm excited about next year in a lot of different ways...it's going to be good!!

**I can't believe that this weekend is 4th of July! I have a ton of parties/cookouts! I need to make a plan of how to make them all actually! And I have a yearly tradition of running the 5K in Akron...at my alma mater! :) I grew up in one very small town but they throw awesome 4th of July celebrations....in fact people come from all over to participate. It's pretty cool. I have a weird tradition of running the 5K at my old elementary school and it's fun to see people and then go to my parent's cookout followed by a ton of other parties. I guarantee that I will do better in this year's 5K than I did in last year's. Last year I had just done the triathlon and my body was not recovered at all! I finished it.....barely.

**My sister, Ash, Jill, and I go skydiving in a week....ah!!! :) Followed the next day by a trip across the country with Laura to visit Rachelle in Texas! Both Laura and I also have friends from college who live in Austin so we are all going to have dinner together with them one night, which will be a lot of fun! :)

The End of Another Year!

This week we wrapped up the end of another school year! It was a crazy few days mostly because the weather wasn't very cooperative but we finished it out and now all my kiddos are 6th graders! They have grown up a lot this year...I will definitely miss them but I'm excited for them to move onto 6th grade. I am excited about next year's class....I have had them once. I saw my initial class list a few days ago and they did a good job of giving me a new mixture of kids from what I had previously. There were some parent requests that were honored so I'll have some of the kiddos again but the rest are new faces so that's fun. Next year my team is going to pilot doing some new things to see how it works so I'll pretty much have all the 5th graders at some point in the day. I like that though!

The way calendars fell I pretty much had to switch gears right away. It's been crazy. I tore down my room on Wednesday during our staff work day and packed 1/3 of my room into suitcases to move over to Edgewood for round one of summer school. I am teaching 4th grade summer school for the ESL department and have over 30 kiddos. I'm excited about it--summer school is going to be really different this year than in prior year for a multitude of reasons but it's always good.

Overall, it's going to be a way busy/but way fun summer. I'm taking two classes through Ball State right now. One of which is ridiculously difficult....I have lost a lot of sleep over it. I'll probably be glad when that particular class is over! Next week I have a lot due in it but fortunately I'll have part of my afternoons to just work on it.

Here's a glimpse of what I'm doing this summer:

Moving my sister and her roomie to a new apartment--check!
Going to a Tin Caps baseball game in Fort Wayne--check!--Did that last night!
Going to a Rascal Flatts concert--today!
Going to various other concerts!
Teaching summer school at Warsaw
Teaching middle school summer school at Valley
Writing curriculum for my school corporation for one week in July
Judging some 4-H fairs
Visiting people--a friend from Kentucky came to visit me yesterday--it was glorious!
Running several 5K's and 10K's
Possibly doing a team triathlon--TBD
Start training for the Fort Wayne Half Marathon
Fun Weddings!
Hanging out on the lakes with friends and family
Spending as much time as I can with my Grandma
Skydiving!
Finishing my Ball State classes
Traveling to Texas with my friend Laura for a few days to visit Rachelle
Going bridesmaid dress shopping
Playing cornhole--I am currently having Purdue cornhole boards made for me--exciting! :)
Possibly going to Florida for a few days in August...like an extended weekend

Yay!

So the Indy mini was a success! :) It was a ton of fun and I felt great about it. I never stopped, which was one of my goals and kept a great pace the whole time. I saw a ton of people that I knew while running...some of whom were from Warsaw, some from my hometown, others from Purdue, etc. It was so funny! I really liked the 13 mile distance a lot. I want to do another half marathon this fall--not sure which one yet though. There are a ton to pick from--I'll definitely see what other people are thinking and go from there. I'm doing several 5K's and 10K's the next few weeks so that will be good to keep me a little bit into that pace of running. I have enjoyed this week not needing to think about the training schedule--it felt great to take it off the fridge! :) I would like to eventually run a marathon--definitely not this year but maybe next. I want to run one more half and then decide if I'm up for the challenge of training for a full marathon!

Ready or Not--The Mini Is Here!

I can't believe it but the mini is finally here! When I started training for the mini it seemed forever away but it's in two days! I have tomorrow off work as we are leaving in the early afternoon hours to get to Indy, register for the race, check into our hotel, and dine at Bravo. Regardless of what time I get I'm excited to be doing it and have definitely trained a ridiculous amount for this race! I'm just hoping for really great weather--we haven't had any of that this week!

This week has been nutty--holy cow. I'm exhausted but I'm so tired that I can't sleep--I hate that feeling! I just returned from South Bend. I went up after work tonight and took my sister shopping for a dress, shoes, etc. for her graduation! We were extremely successful (not that there were any doubts!) and conquered the whole look within one store! Of course it was at our favorite store...Maurices! One thing that I appreciate greatly about that store is that the sales people there are awesome and so helpful. It didn't take long and they had put together the whole thing for Heather--dress, sweater, necklace, earrings, bracelet, and shoes. I was just glad that we didn't have to go to fifty five stores to find a dress!

This was our last week of ISTEP--it was the third time that the kids have tested ISTEP this year and we are DONE! Praise God! I can't believe how close we are getting to the end of the school year too!

We finally had our first track meet this week (since last week's was rained out!) and WON! Both boys and girls won, which is awesome. This track season is flying by usually they seem to take a while but not this one!

I got my Ipod back today and just in time for the weekend of the mini! It was a huge/frustrating fiasco of me getting it back but it's here now! I was not a huge fan of Fed Ex after it was all said and done!

I started the process of refinancing my house tonight. The rates are almost two percent lower than when I purchased my home--that's a huge amount! So that process should be over by the end of May. I'm grateful to have an awesome mortgage officer--she's amazing and makes it really easy.

I have a huge weekend ahead--obviously the mini, then I'm headed to Indiana Wesleyan in Marion to watch my sister run for a while (no rush on getting there though because she doesn't run till 6 p.m.!), spending the night at my parents, then we are all headed to South Bend along with my Grandma on Sunday morning for my sister's college graduation! We will then all go out to dinner afterwards with a few of her closest friends and her boyfriend. I'm sure I will shed a few tears at this event--I can't believe that my 'little' sister is officially done with school!

Random Updates...

**The past two weeks have been crazy crazy. This time of year is always like this--everything is going on all at once and you feel like you are always spinning out of control! We are gearing up for ISTEP again at school for next week--I can't believe this will be the third time this year that we have taken that test! This week we are just trying to stay as sane as possible with a field trip on Friday to Kids Healthworks and every afternoon the kids are presenting their state projects that they have been working on for months. They are all on the computers and they turned out so good--I'm proud of those kids! I can't believe that it's almost May and that soon the school year will be winding down! Where does the time go??

**Check out this You Tube video. I had my kids watch it in class today--we were doing a little lesson on how to treat other people. Some of us needed reminded of how to do that well. The kids of course thought it was hilarious but then had a lot of really insightful comments after it about how we judge people in our society. The rest of the day they were a lot more careful about what they were saying and how they were saying things--I was so grateful.

**I've had a Grace College student in my class for the past few months. She's a freshman and when she started she was uncertain as to if she wanted to be a teacher. She was so so so great--we couldn't have asked for a better fit! Today was her last day and the kids adored her--she did make a decision through this process to become an elementary teacher and I'm super excited for her.

**Tonight was supposed to be our first track meet but unfortunately the rain won and we didn't get to run. :( That was frustrating because the kids were so excited and as coaches we had put so much prep and work into getting ready for tonight....oh well. Hopefully next week the weather is better for a meet....in the meantime we'll practice a lot....:)

**I am seriously contemplating getting a treadmill for here at my house and getting rid of my Y membership. I love the Y but the money adds up and I could easily have a treadmill for what I pay per year. It would be really convenient to be able to get up in the morning and just work out here...we'll see. I've been looking online and then a friend encouraged me to just post something on facebook and it looks like that might be the ticket. With grad school starting I'm trying my best to free up a few dollars or cents.

**The mini is next weekend--can't believe it!!!! I just can't believe that it's here already! I feel like I'm as ready as I will ever be...I could probably train for another month and still wouldn't be satisfied. I did the 12 mile run last Friday and it was good so I think I'm set. The next two weeks are a lot easier training wise with tapering. I'm also trying to do some other things as well because I pulled a crazy muscle in my side last week and hadn't been in that much pain for some time......I just overdid it. I've been going to lots of spinning classes and am going to a Hip Hop class at a new fitness studio tomorrow after work. If all goes well with this mini I think that I might want to do the mini in Fort Wayne in September--one thing at a time though. :)

**My ipod died an unfortunate death....I've only had it since January--how frustrating. On the 12 mile run it just quit. It's dead! I'm waiting on the box from Apple to come so that I can send it in. Fortunately, I stil have my old trusty MP3 player......

**My sister, Heather, graduates from college next weekend too! I can't believe it at all!!! She still has 3 weeks of track after that so she isn't all the way done but done with classes! She qualified for Nationals for track in the A Standard Division, which is amazing. So she will be traveling to St. Louis the week before Memorial Day. I'm super excited for her--what a great way to end your senior year of college!

**I'm officially scraping some things off my plate in terms of commitments....it's way past time. I felt like all last week I kept saying to myself, "Something's gotta give." Two commitments I know of for sure that I'll finish them up (they end in like a month) then I'm done. I just have too much going on and want to make sure that I keep everything in balance.

Whew!

The first day back after break always is exhausting and I always forget just how exhausting it is! This one proved no differently....after a little over 12 hours at work today I'm completely spent! It's always entertaining to me though what kiddos 'forget' or conveniently forget over vacation. I just had to laugh at nearly half the questions I answered today. One of my favorite moments of today (was not sitting in a 2 hour long PTO budget meeting) but this morning the kids were having a spanish lesson. They have spanish names on cute little passports for them during these times. We did a spelling test afterwards and over half of them wrote their spanish names on their papers but I don't have their spanish names memorized so I didn't know whose spelling test was whose. When I asked them about it one said, "We are just trying to express our pesronalities in a new way." Oh my.....:)

Hopefully tomorrow it won't be so dreary, cold, and rainy that will help too and then we can actually have track practice since we have a meet in a week--yikes!

Classroom Blog

My classroom is going to enter into the blogging world!

Keep up to date with our daily adventures!

http://fifthgradekiddos.blogspot.com/

Too too funny!!!

My sister and I text a lot......and I mean a lot! She was texting me today because she wasn't able to come home for Easter at all because of a track meet but she qualified last night for A Standard for Christian Nationals in St. Louis in May--so excited for that girl! When she was texting me she said that she saw on facebook that someone was engaged. She didn't include a last name when she texted me so I assumed it was her friend that my whole family knows well but she meant our cousin. After we cleared up the confusion I got a text a few hours later that her friend (who I thought it was in the first place) got engaged today. Apparently, I'm prophetic or something....haha!

I'm back!

I'm officially back from spring break 2009! Wow, what a great spring break and now it's back to reality! Ashley and I had an amazing time in the Bahamas....loved it!!! We had amazing weather and had an amazing time catching up, relaxing, soaking in the sun, reading (a LOT!), and laughing! Pictures to come!!

I had a super busy Easter weekend! I got back Friday night from the trip and got things ready to have the high school girls over for breakfast on Saturday morning. It was super fun though and we spent several hours catching up and laughing at each other's lives! As soon as they left around 1:00 it was time for me to get cleaned up from my 11 mile run that morning (the mini is in 3 weeks!) and get to Grandma's lake house for the Braman family Easter. It was super great and it was super great for it to be back at Grandma's house. I enjoyed catching up with family on what's going on in their lives! We had a family breakfast this morning and took much needed naps this afternoon! Then I came back to my house to work on getting things under control from being gone--mowed my yard for the first time of the year (it was out of control when I got back), cleaned, paid bills, sorted through stacks of mail, ran, worked on some stuff for school. Now it's back to reality!

Bahama Bound!!

Yay--the stretch from Christmas to spring break is officially over as of 4:00 p.m. tomorrow!!!! Shortly after my kiddos leave the room I am going to be Bahama bound! Woohoo!!! I'll be back just in the nick of time for Easter shenanigans for some of my high school friends' annual Easter breakfast at my house and then lots of family stuff!

I did finally go to the doctor tonight after track practice because that 'lovely' cough I have had for nearly three weeks is out of control! Low and behold, I have bronchitis just like nearly half my class. Thank goodness for good meds though--hopefully they do the trick fast. I would really just like to sleep well again and not cough throughout the night!

Off to packing for the cruise--yay!!!!!

Counting Down!

A week from now I will be headed to Florida to leave for my cruise to the Bahamas!!!!!

SO ready and excited to relax in the beautiful sun with an amazing friend from Purdue and just be. :)

Done and....Exhausted!

Well we are finally done moving Grandma--she has a lot of work to do to situate her stuff but everything is at the lakehouse. It was by far a more emotionally exhausting weekend than I had prepared for--maybe because I was there for so long, maybe because I've been emotionally involved over the whole course of this, who knows... I just have to keep resolving myself to the fact that Grandma is probably never going to be the same woman that she was 6 months ago and that's ok. Memory loss is just such a hard thing to deal with as a family because it's one of those things that you can't just 'fix'. There were lots of fortunate parts about this weekend but the most unfortunate is that starting Thursday morning I noticed that I had the worst cough ever--a bunch of my kiddos had it last week and I would joke that they had the plague because I had lots of kids out and for a long time now I understand. The cough kept getting worse and worse and I gradually would lose my voice esp. at the most inopportune times like trying to talk on the phone to the cellphone company for Grandma. I didn't feel too hot but didn't really care........now I have no voice--zero. nada. And feel like a Mac truck hit me--I'm sucking down nutrition hoping that the morning will be better or I guess I could use sign language at work tomorrow. :)

A post a few weeks ago indicated that I might be interested in still doing the Winona Lake triathlon.....well I'm doing it! But as a team--yay no swimming! One of my sisters track team members wants to do the swimming, my sister wants to run, and I'm going to bike. So as soon as I finish up training for the mini then I'll have that to train for. But that's a LOT easier for me to train for.

Only 2 weeks till the Bahamas--yay!!!

Day One Down!

Oh my---I have been working on moving Grandma back to her lakehouse since Thursday evening. I'm already exhausted physically and emotionally and the real moving day is technically tomorrow. Fortunately, I have everything moved back to the lake except for the furniture--that was a huge JOB!!! And have all those lovely things of moving down--the rest of the accounts terminated, got her a new driver's lisc., etc. etc. The most unfortunate part of today is that we discovered that her days of driving are probably over....that will be a huge transition for all of us. Her because it's taking away more of her freedom and us because we will have to go get her all the time. Fortunately my parents live like 25 minutes from her.....I live an hour away but we'll figure it out. I took her to the doctor today and he had a fit when he found out that she had been driving. Since she has the signs of dementia it's now on her health records and if she would get in an accident she would get sued..... That was a hard conversation for her to hear but I was glad to be there with her when she heard it otherwise she might not follow through. Fortunately, at the lakehouse there are a lot of places that she can walk and do things with that community of people and fortunately she can still walk well. As soon as the doctor told her that the rest of the day was not very good because she shut down on me and didn't want to do anything for herself--that's my biggest fear that she will fall back into a place of dependency using her memory problems as a crutch instead of fighting for it. I had to remind myself all day today though how blessed we are to still have her here and that we are back to this point--she will never be the woman that I used to know and I have to work through that and accept that for the rest of her life that we will always be taking care of her instead of her taking care of us. :) I kept reminding myself today that this experience undoubtedly will make me a better mother one day because it has taught me so much about caring for someone selflessly even when an 83 year old acts like a 6 year old in the grocery store........

Suggestions

Does anyone have a really good devotional that they love?? I'm in a pit with good devotionals.......I can't seem to find one right now that I totally love.

What a fun weekend!

This weekend was so sporadic but turned out to be so fun! Friday night I did have a school function till 9:00 but then got to spend some good time with some girlfriends and really catch up on some things going on in our lives. They are the type of friends that you can tell exactly what is going on in your life and they are totally there for you 100%....I love that! Saturday morning I ran 10 miles at running club--it was as good as running 10 miles can be and then came back home to find my dad here ready to help me with some household projects that needed to be done. So after putting a quilt rack up, installing a new bath towel bar, and toliet paper reel, some new mini blinds, and fixing a clock that somehow got broke (I think the painters dropped it) I had those things done. For me to do that it would have been an all day ordeal but my dad is so handy that it took an hour. That evening I went out to dinner with some friends who are from here originally but don't reside here anymore. They were both here to visit their parents and it was SO good to see them and catch up on what's going on in their lives as we are all going through definite seasons of change! After that I took one of my friends and met up with some others to go karaoke....it was so much fun! Loved it! :) I've been before but never with these friends and it was great! This morning was normal church activities but afterwards I made a trip down to my parents. Yesterday when I was running I knew that I was to call my mom immediately after and so I went down to have lunch with my parents and then talked with my mom the rest of the afternoon/early evening. It was sooo good. With all of our focus, attention, and energy on Grandma that's all we ever talk about and coordinating schedules and plans to make sure everything gets done. Usually once that all gets hashed out we're out of time to talk about other things. We both have a lot going on in our lives right now and it was so neat because there were some things that I didn't tell her about till today and vice versa but we both already knew about it and we're prepared for it because the Lord had been laying those things on each of our hearts for a while. That happens a lot to the two of us, which I love. I love that I have a friendship with my mom and that we can confide in each other on situations even when they are situations that we don't have figured out.

I definitely have that feeling that 'a season of change is coming'. I've had it for a long time now but it's getting more and more intense. I know what some of the change is, have an idea of what some of the other change could be, and then after talking with my mom realized that there could be more change yet that I'm not really ready for but God's will is perfect and I love that. One thing that is changing is the Lord is kind of in the process of reshuffling my commitments. I am someone who serves in a lot of different respects because I was raised like that but in the past few months I have known that the door is closing on some of those things because their sesason is over. Today I realized that perhaps one big reason that the door is closing on those things is that He wants me to serve my family more. That I am going to need to free up some time here soon obviously because grad school is starting but also for the needs of Grandma and for my parents. I think right now one of the biggest ways I can serve my parents is by going down once a week with work shoes on and helping to take care of their property. They have a LOT of property--way too much and they can't keep up with it because of their jobs and they are getting older (I don't like that one!) :). I had my dad make a list today of things that need done once we take care of getting Grandma moved and they are all huge projects. It's funny how we feel like we need to be doing certain serving opportunities to make a big difference but sometimes I wonder if just normal things aren't just as helpful. I also think God is going to do something with the fact that I know and am burdened right now for a lot of people who are sick with cancer. I have several friends and family friends who are very ill right now and I wonder what God is going to do with that. It's just a big process of opening and shutting doors!

This is the week that we move Grandma back home! So it's totally going to be a chaotic week.....I leave to go down right after work on Thursday and stay through Sunday. Hopefully though the transition is smooth and good. I'm looking forward to spending some good time with her alone on Friday before family gets there........she's been through so much in the past few months and has a lot to process through.

Close to home....

My heart has gone out to everyone affected by the intense flooding this week--check out this article and you will have a better idea of what some people are going through. This road that collapsed is two roads behind my parents home and is the road where the kids died in the flooding last year. I went to high school with everyone that was involved in this accident and can't imagine what they are going through as a result. I have not been down to see the results of the flooding yet because most of the state roads are still impassable if you only have a car but my dad said that it's so much worse than last year and nearly every county road in the southern end of the county is closed and washed away. My parents lost most of their road and their driveway is gone as a result. My dad had so many scary stories the day that it happened...as he was driving to work the morning of the flooding a state road was so flooded that the fire dept. couldn't get through and a semi was stuck in it.....it took my dad several hours to get to work because there was no way out because all the roads were so flooded. I have been getting emails and phone calls all day to help sandbag here and in multiple other towns--my heart so goes out to everyone that has been affected.

Rain, Rain, Rain!

We have had the weirdest weather this week!!!!! I don't like it one bit---Sunday a tornado hit a town near us and affected many families. Now it's raining and won't seem to stop meaning flooding. A little over a year ago in January 2008 we had flooding that was severe actually so severe that we had to dismiss school early one day and today reminded me of that day a lot. Last year there was a family who lives near my parents whose children died in the flooding and I thought about that family a lot today wondering what kind of emotions this must stir up in them. I was thinking about it more and more after my dad called and said that all the roads were flooding out by them and that even the state roads were becoming impassable and he couldn't get his truck through them. I remember when we flooded in '08 it was right before I moved into my house and I was driving to my parents house one night after prayer group and it was nearly midnight on a Wednesday night and I couldn't find a way home because all the roads were impassable......I don't miss those days of driving but my heart does go out when the weather gets like this. I strongly maintain that there is a spiritual connection between intense rain like this and what God is trying to teach us--how I wish I knew exactly what it is!

Needless to say, I wonder if we'll delay school in the morning........a number of schools already are delayed.

Recent Loves.....

1.) I've been way more into a reading kick even more than normal the past few weeks. In one afternoon (I had taken half a sick day last Friday because I had a fever) I read the entire book Twilight. I am excited to read the next book New Moon but need to wait a few days because those books are so addicting and I don't have time this week. :)
2.) I go in and out of Karen Kingsbury kicks......I'm in one right now though! I just finished the book Sunset and just started the book This Side of Heaven.
3.) Our church is doing a series called Faith and Doubt so I read the book. At first, I wasn't a fan of the book but the more I got into it I did like it......it's not a 'feel good' book by any means but it's good.
4.) Audio books! I've been driving a LOT lately so I checked out an audio book (19 CD's long) at the public library--I'm all about free things right now too!--and love it!
5.) The movie Fireproof--I rented it for FREE last week and wasn't sure how I would feel about it in general but I loved it and it gave me a lot of really good things to think about even though I'm not married yet but helped remind me yet again of very specific ways to pray for my heart and the heart of whomever God has for me.
6.) I'm going to start going to a book club with my friend (who is the world's most avid reader!) in Fort Wayne in a few weeks that I'm really excited about. They are starting the book entitled Jimmy that is about how a boy with special needs sees the world. I have a heart for kiddos like this. I think it will be good for me to read and discuss it because it will give me a better perspective of how the kiddos that I have in my room see the world as I have multiples with special needs and specifically next year I'm likely getting a kiddo with severe special needs.
7.) For the fact that spring break is in FOUR WEEKS! :) I am going on a cruise with my best friend from Purdue to the Bahamas on a Carnival cruise line. I'm beyond excited and can't believe how quickly it will be here!! Now I just need to get certain parts of my body in better shape so I can go buy some new swim suits.....I despise shopping for swim suits!
8.) Tanning! I'm not a regular tanner by any means but before trips I have to....let's just say I have trips that turned out awful because I burned so badly and turned into a lobster. If I tan it helps the situation immensely and for whatever reason makes me feel better in general.
9.) That my parents taught me how to negotiate well! I spent over two hours on the phone tonight dealing with a ridiculous situation trying to reactivate an account for Grandma. It's almost impossible anymore to get a real person on the phone and to get someone to speak to you when you are not that person even with authorization.......you basically have to sign over your life to do it. In the process of this ridiculous situation I cut my Grandma's phone bill in half and it's twice as large now....go me!
10.) Training for the Indy Mini--it's in two months! My training has been going really well--going to running club in C. City has made a world of difference. It's tough running with them because they are insanely FAST and for a lot of them this is their lives---training for events but it's good accountability that I'm glad I have. This week is a 9 mile run, which I'm not concerned about because I ran a 9 last week on my own. I've toyed with the idea of signing up again for the Winona Lake triathlon, which I did for two years in a row. I wish I could can the swimming part though.....blah--the rest is cake after that! At least this year if I did it I wouldn't have a wedding right after it like I have for the past two years!

Worst Pickup Lines Ever....

So I have always had a knack for attracting the most interesting individuals.......this week proved no differently. Someone whom I have not spoken to in years and I don't really know well emailed me this week and started out like this, "So I was sitting in my crib and mapquested the distance from my city to yours...." HAHAHA

In a face to face conversation with an individual he kept continually offering to come visit my classroom to make sure my kiddos were being well behaved. I had situations like this with 4 guys this week.....but none of them are even remotely close to being worth my time--how is it that I can attract guys that aren't worth my energy but can't seem to find the ones that are worth my time right now.

What a Fine Line...

Two weeks from today my family and I are moving my grandma BACK to her lakehouse--I couldn't be more excited for her! It's quite an ordeal of how this happened and included us having to pull it off the market but we know this is where God wants her and where she needs to be. In the past few weeks we have been making her pack up her current house. She called yesterday and informed me that she had lots packed and was ready to take some stuff to the lake so I went this afternoon but of course when I got there she didn't want to go anymore....but I took her anyway. :) Healthwise she is doing so much better but mentally we're not even close to there yet. A lot of it is that she wants to remember things from a long time ago vs. current because that's when Grandad was alive and such. She has totally reverted to being childlike and stayed in this funk....it's to the point that I find myself so annoyed with it because she doesn't want to do anything for herself and wants someone to take care of everything. When I went to get her car out of the garage this afternoon I couldn't get to it because she had been throwing her trash into Kroger's bags and throwing it into the garage and not tying them up. The entire side of the garage was covered in kleenex everywhere. ........9 Hefty Garbage bags full. I counted as I made her help me clean it up so I could back her car out. I struggle with the fine line of needing to help her because she is 83 years old and legitly needs help but she is playing the system because she knows that if she pretends that she can't do things that we will continue to do it for her. My immediate family has tried everything and is now at the point that if it doesn't get done then that's the only way she will learn--we feel like she's a child again.

This evening I was in the process of dealing with deactivating accounts at her current home and reactivating accounts at the lakehouse. For one I needed a credit card and she handed me her driver's lisc., then tried giving me her AARP card, and has no idea where her credit card went...needless to say I paid the bill. After going through her records I discovered that she paid a lofty fee (over $500) to cancel a contract and I was able to recoup the money tonight and get it credited back to her account that I reactivated for Dish TV and she had no concept of how much money I got back for her......she doesn't have to pay her TV bill for one year now.

I ended up putting in for a personal day the day before because we have serious work to do. I'm hoping to get all her boxes and clothes moved to the lake that day and help her get stuff like her kitchen set back up and have people coming in all day to set things up like the cable, internet, etc. That way when the Uhaul comes on the Saturday it's just furniture.

I desire to be a good grandchild to her and serve her in the way that she needs but struggle with the fact that I can't do it all for her.....even though that would be way easier sometimes. But when I do that then she calls everytime the trash needs taken out and once she's back to the lake she will be over an hour away. Life's a cycle---I hope I have good grandchildren to take care of me one day! :)

ISTEP Meltdown...

ISTEP Meltdown is the phrase that the state of Indiana has coined this week for our current test that the students are taking. By mid Monday morning I was melting down right with the kids wondering where I missed the boat this year in teaching my kids, at lunch every teacher in the building was having that same panic episode, and by afternoon emails were flooding in from every where telling us not to panic that this test is exceptionally difficult. In one particular email it stated that absence levels are at an all time high state wide because students are so upset because of the test. I can account to that as I have a multitude of absences today and students go home sick that are never ever sick and the timing of their situations was impeccable. In particular I have never seen a math test so incredibly difficult and have never seen more panic in my kiddos eyes but there is nothing I can do for them at that point. Hopefully the multiple choice test in April is much better!

I am all about accountability, data, and progress but sometimes I wonder if this is the most effective way to do that?

Free Hair Cuts!

Salon Rouge in Mishawaka is offering FREE hair cuts on Monday evenings at 6:00 as part of their employee training program. My sister used to get her hair cut there and they do an amazing job and typically cost around $50 to have your hair cut there. I just called and it's totally legit! If you don't live in Mishawaka you would have gas money involved but my sister lives less than a mile from that salon so it gives me a reason to go visit her and a free hair cut! :)

Gail.ology :)

Here's a little bitty lesson in Gail.ology. One little lesson is guaranteed to make you smarter. It's been proven!

FOOD.OLOGY.

What is your salad dressing of choice??
Fat Free French

What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
Cheesecake Factory, Cerulean, or Club Soda....it's a toss up. :)

What food could you eat everyday for two weeks and not get sick of?
Fiber One Granola Bars and FRUIT! :)

What are your pizza toppings of choice?
Chicken and Pineapples

What do you like to put on your toast?
I can't tell you the last time I ate toast.......but usually peanut butter.

Chocolate or Vanilla?
Chocolate

.TECHNOLOGY.

How many televisions are in your house?
1

Do you have a laptop?
Yes


.BIOLOGY.

Are you right - handed or left- handed?
Lefty! :)

Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
Never

What is the last heavy item you lifted?
My work bag.....it's like lifting weights daily!

Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
Never ever

CRAPOLOGY.

If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
Absolutely not!

If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
As much as I despised my name growing up because it wasn't 'popular' I would never change it.

Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $ 1000?
Today?? Yes! I just finished paying the painters and got my grad school bill today and the mortgage and car insurance are due this week too......it's that or a money tree!

. DUMBOLOGY.

How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
Oh my--way too many! Around 15ish......I LOVE cute flip flops!

Last time you had a run- in with the cops???
Two years ago--got pulled over because the light that shines onto my license plate burned up.....who knew!
Last person you talked to?
The cashier at Quizno's....getting my FREE sub!
Last person you hugged?
A kiddo in my class--ISTEP was rough today and she was sick.
.FAVORITOLOGY.

Season?
Hands down--summer!

Holiday?
Christmas!

Day of the week?
Friday

Month?
December

. CURRENTOLOGY.

Missing anyone?
Yes--several people....

Mood?
Good--just ran 8 miles!

What are you listening to?
The TV

Watching?
Friends

. RANDOMOLOGY.

First place you went this morning?
The Y then school

What's the last movie you saw?
He's Just Not That Into You

Do you smile often?
All the time even when I'm not really happy

Do you always answer your phone?
Nope

If you could change your eye color what would it be?
Love my eyes

What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic?
I don't really frequent Sonic very often

Do you own a digital camera?
Yep

Have you ever had a pet fish?
Yes--they were a wedding favor--funny I know!

What's on your wish list for your birthday?
I always get money for my birthday because it's right after Christmas and then pay bills or put it toward my annual spring break trip--exciting I know!
Can you do push ups?
Yes but I prefer not to

Can you do a chin up?
I haven't done a chin up since elementary school and have no intention of starting again!

Does the future make you nervous or excited?
A little of both--but mostly excited!
Do you have any saved texts?
I save all of them till my phone deletes them all

Ever been in a car wreck?
Yes two....neither were my fault.

Do you have an accent?
??

What is the last song to make you cry?
Beautiful by Bethany Dillon--It always makes me cry.

Plans tonight?
Grading, reading, and going to bed.

Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom?
Multiple times!

Have you ever been given roses ?
Yep

Current hate right now?
How much of a planner I am......

Met someone who changed your life?
Lots of people!!

Would you go back in time if you were given the chance?
Yes--there are memories I would love to experience again and situations that I wish would have gone differently.

Have you ever dated someone longer than a year?
Yes

Do you have any tattoos/ piercings?
Ears

Does anyone love you?
Yes

Would you be a pirate?
??

What songs do you sing in the shower?
Whatever is playing on my Ipod

Ever had someone sing to you?
Yes--mostly kids but guys too...it's sweet!
Do you like to cuddle?
Yes

Have you held hands with anyone today?
No
Who was the last person you took a picture of?
My sister

What kind of music did you listen to in elementary school?
Beach Boys, Celine Dion, Leann Rimes
Are most of the friends in your life new or old?
It's a really good combination of both!

Do you like pulpy orange juice?
Nope....I rarely drink OJ though--water for me!

What is something your friends make fun of you for?
My weird random situations that happen to me. People were laughing at me yesterday for the guy who didn't want me to carry my own trashcan up my driveway because he felt that women shouldn't do manual labor.

My amazing memory!

Have you ever ridden an elephant?
Yes
Do you like to play Scrabble?
Only with Grandma

When is the last time you ate peanut butter and jelly?
Years and years ago....I don't even own jelly

What were you doing 12 AM last night?
Sleeping

What Would It Look Like If.....

What Would It Look Like If.....

You went a whole day, week, month, year without gossiping about other people. No it never starts out with bad intentions...you hear a story that is pretty interesting and you tell two of your friends, and those two friends tell two of their friends but the story changes a little bit. Pretty soon it's like a game of telephone gone bad. Think about the people that you are chatting about without having hard core facts..they are so hurt and betrayed because of the power of your tongue. We all do it--what would it look like for us to become more intentional about holding our tongue, taking our shoes off and putting the other persons shoes on regardless of the situation before you speak. Surely we have better things to discuss, right?

Every day we truly, wholeheartedly sought out who the Lord wanted us to be that day. I don't mean just a 39 second prayer about it I mean truly surrendering to who HE wants you to be. How He wants you to act, talk, work, etc. I have been thinking a lot lately because of some various real life situations about how we aren't always seeking out what the Lord wants us to be. We need to daily ask the Lord how He sees us and to confirm for us that our identity lies in Him and not the things of this world. I have also been thinking about how we take on things in our lives that maybe God never really desired for us to do......maybe some of our plates need cleaned off a little so that God can rejuvenate us and reteach us about who we are in Him.

We stopped asking people about what they don't have and focusing on what they do have. Multiple women have sat in my home lately and cried about their inability to have children of their own and how every time they turn around people are asking them when they are going to bear children and what they are waiting on and how that drives that wedge deeper into their hearts. Being single I am constantly bombarded with the question of when I'm going to find Mr. Right....is that really the cashier's position to ask that question to me--yes this really happened. We all have something in our lives that we long for so much but that God isn't ready to give us because it's not our time.......let's focus on what these people do have and not on what they don't have. We are all broken people and we all want something we can't have.....

Heart Breaking....

Several of my kiddos walked into today with heart breaking and life changing news. They are situations that you hear of every day--divorce and losing your home but it is so different to walk a child through that situation and I'm just their teacher. Both of these kids were so heart broken, mad, and of course blaming themselves. There was one child in particular who is taking the news very hard and will continue to.....I was so reminded today of the fact of how important it is for me to pray for these kids. I pray every day for my kids not just that they would learn but that they would be growing into the people that God designed for them to be. So often I think it's easy to get stuck on the fact that "Bobbie still can't multiply..." that we forget that these kids are going through all sorts of real life things and things that we have no idea about because they are hidden within their families. While the kids were at lunch today the tears started streaming down my face for some of my kids that have really hard lives at such a young age--I just want to fix it for them but I can't.

One Year

I have officially owned my home for one year! My closing was on February 29th of last year....obviously there is no Feb. 29th this year. :) It is so weird to think that I have owned a house for that long....the time is flying. I remember being SO emotional when I purchased my home last year because it undoubtedly was the largest purchase of my life and scary to do it on my own. I have seen the Lord's hand take care of me in so many different ways through it. When I purchased this home I had put an offer on it one day after it came out on the market two months prior to purchasing it and ended up losing the offer. Someone made an offer at the last minute that I couldn't meet but they ended up losing their financing. I was in the process of negotiating on another house when I got the call that this house was potentially coming back onto the market but that I had first dibs to make an offer on it to legally get these other people out of their contract. I was never so scared and confused in my life! I didn't know if I was making the right decision by backing out of the other offer and entering into this one but I did and I got it. When I look at it rationally there is no reason why I should have been able to afford my house but clearly the Lord had other plans....it was definitely a step of faith for sure!! In this year I feel like the Lord has provided so well for me to be here. On top of regular expenses of living here I have been able to do so much to take the largest purchase of my life and make sure that I am going to get a maximum return on my investment by upgrading things like putting a new roof on, painting, fixing random random things--I grew up in a very financially savvy family if you can't tell. :) I have seen so many situations of why the Lord wanted me to have this particular house that have been so cool. One--I have amazing neighbors that support me in so many ways. They are just really great to live next to but are really supportive and have become kind of like family in a way. Two--this house has definitely been a house of the Lord's where multiple multiple things of the Lord's has been held. Three--lately it has been a place for people to stay that need a place to stay for a while because I have the room to let them do that. In a few weeks I am refinancing my house because the rates have dropped SO much since I purchased it--I am hoping to free up some money that will help me while I am in grad school and such. The joys of being a responsible adult. :)

Ready or Not...

So tomorrow is an early release for our students and our teachers corporation wide were able to select conferences to attend to help them advance their knowledge/skills in particular areas. I am one of those people who is teaching a class and most people in both workshops that I am leading are very seasoned teachers and have been teaching for a long time--no pressure right. :) I feel that I have a lot of quality resources to give them and even made them all CD's with digital copies and hard copies of everything...I think I killed the rain forest getting ready for this. Typically speaking, I'm not a procrastinator but some unexpected events pushed this to the last minute. Last minute for me though is still several days before and not the night before. Hopefully both sessions go well and are well received!

Funny Kiddos

My kids in my classroom have said the funniest things this week and of course not so funny things too. :) Yesterday during social studies we were reading about the Stamp Act and came across the name Samuel Adams. One of my boys who just really enjoys talking in general shots out, "That's who invented beer...I can't wait to tell my dad what I learned today!"

That same child today was trying to write out a plan of how to make a car operate on polluted water...my kids are really concerned with trying to save our environment and are always trying to come up with ways to replace gasoline. So I was asking him questions of how this would truly work to have a car run on polluted water and he got so frustrated and finally said, "Give me a break Miss Rathbun I'm a 5th grader not an engineer!" The funny part of that statement is he undoubtedly will be an engineer along with several other students in my room.

25 Random Things...

1.) My hair is naturally red and people question me all the time about the color of it.
2.) Growing up I hated that my hair was red (it used to be BRIGHT red!) because certain people would always have the classic comments for it but the older I got I started to love it and have never tried to change it!
3.) For seven years growing up my family would vacation in July in Birchwood, Wisconsin. It was a very small town and we would get a house on a lake and would fish for the entire week. It was continuing a tradition because my dad's family would vacation there when he grew up on an island on the lake.
4.) One year on the way to Wisconsin I decided to order the same breakfast items that my dad did and ordered the "Hungry Man's Breakfast" at 4:00 a.m. A while later on the interstate I got sick and my sister who was in the back seat with me thought I was joking that I was sick...:) From that trip forward my parent's took buckets with us in the car just in case and I have never ordered a hungry man's breakfast ever since!
5.) When I was ten I got sick on New Year's Eve from fried shrimp and refuse to eat it till this day....
6.) Out of my immediate family three of the four of us have birthdays during the holidays! My dad's is December 25, mine is December 30, and Heather's is January 3.
7.) When I was younger I unfortunately sprayed Windex into my sister's eye.....on purpose. :(
8.) My family remodeled and added onto their entire house and did it all ourselves when we were growing up. I can say that I have helped with nearly every aspect of home repair/renovation in my lifetime.
9.) My parent's house is in a woods on a dirt road.......one of the few gravel roads left! It made it fun growing up there!
10.) My parent's had a dog named Smoky before my sister was born and one time I guess I left the house and walked down the road with the dog without telling them at the time that the school bus would be coming down the road. They also claim that I ate dog food once with the dog....I really don't remember this but that's what I'm told!
11.) My dad made me my own icefishing box when I was 6 or 7 so that we could go out on the lakes with him....I was so excited at the time to have my own!
12.) My favorite childhood indoor entertainment was the original Nintendo! :) On Saturday nights it was a tradition in my family for a while to get a pizza and there was a small video rental store in Akron that had a disc that would help you 'cheat' and get through the levels faster. I was pretty good at Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt!
13.) My dad told my sister and I once on Christmas Eve that Santa Claus wasn't coming that year because we weren't good enough that year and recorded it.....we were some pretty unhappy campers!
14.) I attended Purdue University and whole heatedly believe that was one of the best decisions of my life! I have so many amazing memories and experiences from Purdue and love being a Boilermaker!
15.) I student taught at the school where I am employed and currently teach in the room where I student taught three years ago! I love teaching at my school and love the team that I work with and how we can make almost anything fun and creative.
16.) I am starting my master's degree in May from Ball State University through an online program in educational administration. I am excited to start this new journey!
17.) The service department at my car dealership can recognize my voice without me telling them who it is....it's a little freaky!
18.) I have friends who live all over the country and LOVE visiting them. I love having meaningful relationships with people and not just surface level.
19.) On a flight back from Austin, Texas in October I sat next to two people who looked and acted like the characters from Everybody Loves Raymond.
20.) I am currently training for the Indianapolis Mini Marathon, which will take place in May!
21.) I bought my house a year ago and have loved making it my home over the course of the year. I am blessed beyond belief to own it. The next upcoming project is that I'm having the entire inside of the house painted this coming weekend.
22.) Once a worker who was supposed to be doing the spring check on my heating/cooling system fell asleep on my couch on the job. Let's just say I didn't have to pay that bill!
23.) I really really like having surprise parties and get togethers in general!
24.) I attend and am involved in an amazing church that constantly blows me away by how great it is!
25.) I really love to read and always have a whole stack of books going. I am currently reading a book by Karen Kingsbury and am starting the book Faith and Doubt.

Different Gifts

I love how we each are so unique and we each have very different gifts. This week I have been so grateful for people's different gifts and how it makes our society so unique. This morning I was particularly grateful for endocrinologists as I had my 5 month check in Fort Wayne. It is amazing to me that there are doctors who specialize in the endocrine system and can get it back where it needs to be! I am so grateful for such good medicine and medical services in this country!

Tonight I was grateful for interior designers......one thing I don't enjoy doing is picking paint colors! It's hard for me to envision if it will look good in my house vs. on the piece of paper. :) She was so awesome and we had it all figured out in no time flat! I am excited to see the finished product after they are done! I am also extremely grateful for painters! They are going to have the whole house done this weekend except for the kitchen which will be done next weekend because they have to strip wallpaper for that part....that's amazing to me that they can do it that fast!

Love it!

Today was the funniest day! I had organized 'Dress as Your Favorite Story Book Character Day' at my school. All the fifth grade teachers and kids dressed up and then the kids went to the primary grade classes and read to the kids....it was really fun! It was so neat to see what the kids dressed up as and I even had a student rent a costume for the occasion!

After school I got out of my Dorothy costume asap and started working because I threw my wonderful mother a surprise birthday party tonight. It was so much fun and I think that she walked away feeling loved, which was my goal. Her best friend winters in Florida so she wasn't able to come but I had her call during the party and that was the neatest part. I love doing stuff like that in general!

Every year I do something to invest in my home and my plan this year was that I would have it painted. I had several estimates done and wasn't really pleased with either price wise. Today one of the guys who had done an estimate contacted me and we negotiated the price by basically me telling him what I felt was fair and he took it. So I'm having my house painted next weekend! He's really really fast and works really late so I'll probably stay until we get all the furniture moved and then go stay with my parents for the weekend to stay out of his way and work on stuff for them and Grandma. The best part is that his wife is an amazing interior decorator so she is going to help me pick colors on Monday. I'm excited to have it done! Last year I had a new roof put on my house and did it with my dad. I'm really glad that I don't have to ask him for help on this one and neither of us like painting...I'd seriously rather put a roof on a house!

I'm excited about my very random weekend ahead. I have running club to train for the Indy Mini Marathon tomorrow morning in Columbia City and then going to my sister's track meet at Taylor in Upland. Sunday after church I'm going to Mishawaka to visit my sister and spend time with her. There's not really time to chat at track meets....she's kind of busy running ridiculously fast. She already qualified for A Standard for Indoor Nationals for NAIA....she's so amazing.

YAY!!! :)

I found out this morning that I was officially accepted into the administration program through Ball State University for graduate school. So now I can start this new process! I'm excited to be taking classes again.....just not excited about paying for them again!

Random Things I've Learned Lately...:)

1.) No matter what bills you receive in the mail unless they are always a fixed amount CHECK the bill and make sure that it's correct. Lately I have found so many incorrect charges on my phone bill and trust me it's worth the time to check. I had a large situation with a bill that was very expensive anyways for my house where the billing rep multiplied a number by four on accident and it made my bill $400 more than it was supposed to be and wouldn't have been caught if I didn't investigate it.
2.) If on direct deposit from your workplace make sure that the number that your slip says is the number that was deposited into your account.
3.) Never take a single day for granted....live life to the absolute fullest. A mother of a friend of mine had a stroke last week and her body is shutting down. It makes you really think about what matters...
4.) Work to see situations through the eyes of other people...it might change your perspective! I've been helping a family through a tough time and they have a situation going on that happened to my family when I was younger. It's been interesting to be on the outside but to know exactly how it feels and that all I can do is love because no amount of words or affirmation will fix it.
5.) Be grateful that we have such SMART kids in this area! I was judging the county spelling bee and was so proud of our area students! One of my students was our school's contestant and while he didn't win I was astounded at the brilliance of our future! I'm blessed to get to see a glimpse of our future daily!
6.) Show people you love them fiercely! This morning as I had some kids stay the night at my house last night and was going through the morning ritual with some typical girl drama I was blessed to look outside and see that a friend had left me a random package just letting me know that she cared. I remembered that all day...:)
7.) Remembering that the 'stuff' that God has given me that I need to be making sure that I'm using it the way He wants me too. Lately that's been cool to see how He wants me to use things. I'm blessed with a nice house and some people have needed places to stay lately and it's so nice to be able to help out. In these economic times I know of some families that can't afford to run their kids around everywhere so I've been doing a little of that and enjoy it. I always love doing stuff to help others...
8.) That fasting for 10 days is really really tough but really really worth it.
9.) That if things are meant to be in any area of life that they will happen. The other day I was budgeting for summer master's classes to pay for them next week and realized that my tax return is the exact dollar amount I need for them....amazing.
10.) Sometimes I just need a change........I'm going to Mishawaka Sunday to hang out with my sister and we are going to Ulta to get our hair cut. I think I'm going to change it up a little bit and get some bangs.....we'll see how that goes. :) At least that's a temporary change. :)

Excitement!

So my dear friend Rachelle who lives in Austin, Texas got engaged tonight.....so excited for her!!!! And my awesome friend Laura and I are her maid of honors in her wedding next summer!! :) So it looks like I'll be flying to Texas again sooner than I anticipated to help wedding plan.....love it! She's marrying a terrific man, which makes me even more excited for her!

On another note, I made a huge decision last week that I'm really excited about. I had been in prayer/thought for quite a while about what master's program to do and wasn't at peace about my decision. I had found a grant that would cover a large portion of a master's program but I really wasn't excited about it other than the fact that it would have been a LOT cheaper. During the fast I had been in prayer specifically about the master's program and little by little it became more clear until last Friday all the pieces seemed to fit together. I am going to start my master's in educational administration this summer and am really excited about it. I contacted Ball State this morning to change my educational objective and there are a few hoops I have to jump through and fast because class registration is next Monday and usually classes fill up within the day. I got everything taken care of this morning but I had to reapply so I pushed with them that I need to know this week so that I can sign up for classes. So hopefully that will all work out without any problems! If all goes as planned I have the financial resources right now to take 3 classes this summer and want to because they don't really overlap that much and that will work really well with me teaching summer school this summer. A lot of times after I get off work from summer school I tend to goof off the rest of the day but this will help me to be a lot more disciplined about not doing that. I'm really excited about this decision and definitely have a peace about it. It's something that I have always wanted to pursue anyways.

I finally got an Ipod last week....it was about time I got into the 21st century! The one I got is nice and I got a great deal on it.

3 Down, 7 to Go

So I am about done with day 3 of the Daniel Fast and only have 7 days to go. :) It has not been a walk in the park...that's for sure! The first day was great.....by the morning of day two it was not so great anymore. I am eating every two hours or so because I'm so hungry but when you're eating things like apples and carrots it's a little different. :) I honestly thought that it would be hard for me to give up the pop because I usually have one pop a day and I don't really crave it just food in general. I was in Walmart today and I was so hungry that I just had to leave before I was tempted to blow it and came home and made stirfry. It's been really good though......it's been a good reminder of the fact that at least for me I can unconsciously put stuff into my body and mind without being very intentional about it. That junk then builds up and you have to get it out. The Lord keeps reminding me that it's not just about the food it's about our spiritual food too and to be so careful of what we allow into our bodies spiritually and into our minds. I'm excited to see what becomes of the remainder of the time as I'm just in the beginning stage of the fast. I'm most concerned about this weekend because I'll be traveling most of it and then Sunday is super bowl......