Sunday, February 26, 2023

Thar She Blows!

The storms that hit the west coast two days ago is now barreling across the country and expected to be here by midnight tonight, so I guess I'd better get this Ten Things of Thankful post written now before I have to do it while hunkering in the basement (let's hope not, mkay?).


We got some much-needed outside time the first part of the week. I'm not sure you realize what it's like to have 16 two and three year olds inside a room all day long, but you're welcome to come visit my class and see for yourself! 

We try to go outside every day, but as that isn't always possible (this week brought buckets of rain followed by a couple of cold, windy days), you gotta get creative. We do obstacle courses, make messy process art, and this week, we got the light tables out, which are more fun when it's a dark, cloudy day anyway.




I have been invited to join a national service sorority for women educators. I've attended several meetings with the group, but the one this week was truly lots of fun, and I'm happy that I am going to be part of it.

Guilty pleasure: watching "Married At First Sight (Australia)" with my husband.

My tuxedo cat, Lewis, has been bringing hats, mittens, SIX FOOT LONG SCARVES, teddy bears, socks, and sewing materials to my bedroom from various parts of the house. The scarf traveled up a flight of stairs and down the hall. No one knows where the teddy bear was previously, but it had belonged to my son. We don't know why he is doing this, but we are taking it as a sign of love.

My calico, Nora Pearl, just brought me a sock. Guess she's learned something from her brother.

May I remind you these are CATS and not dogs.

So this happened: my husband, who works from home, had to go out of town for the day. I am rarely in my house alone, so I hustled home from work just to enjoy being all by myself for a couple of hours. As I was unlocking the door, the (very old, as in 100 year old house) screen door rested against my back, BUT I was wearing a long sweater with an open weave, and a rough spot on the door snagged my sweater in the middle of my back just as I pushed the door open. So now the alarm is going off, and I am stuck tight to the screen door and can't get to the keypad to turn the alarm off and can't get the sweater freed from whatever it snagged on (the door got me in a spot that made it impossible to pull my arms out of the sweater to get free, before you ask). I just bought the sweater the day before, so I really didn't want to ruin it. Just as it was looking as though the police were going to be showing up and finding me tethered to the door and trying to prove it is, indeed, my house, all the while frantically trying to get loose, I unsnagged the sweater and was free! 

Bonus; no discernible snag in the sweater!

One more story about my nugs, but it IS a thankful! One of my students had a birthday on Friday and brought cupcakes for snack. Half of them had pink frosting and half of them had black frosting, which was cute unless you know what black frosting does to one's digestive tract (bright blue frosting as well): it turns the poop a shocking green color. I was sure thankful it was Friday and the frosting would be out of their systems for their parents and not while they were at school!



The wind is picking up. Time to sign off and unplug the stuff that isn't enhanced by lightning. Hope everyone in the path of the storm gets through it safely!

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Sunday, February 19, 2023

Still Thankful For Birds And More

As slowly as January passed, February is zipping by, as in 2/3 of the way over. Already! That will bring me to my first Ten Things of Thankful for this weekend:

1. Spring is officially one month away!

2. My husband surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of roses on Valentine's Day. He even delivered them himself, in the pouring rain, along with leaving me a valentine to find that morning when I woke up. He's a keeper!




3.  My little nugs continue to be enamored with the live birdfeeder cam, and I love it! When they see starlings land in the feeder and scare off the other birds, they say, "Starlings are bossy!"

My sister in law's dogs also enjoy
the live birdfeeder cam!


4. Everyone around here is still hyped about the Chiefs win. Their victory parade was held in Kansas City on Wednesday, and I'm thankful the law school canceled classes so anyone who wanted to attend could do so, especially since my daughter was planning to skip class regardless!

5. My teaching assistant Baylee brought me homemade chicken and dumplings, courtesy of her Nana. I love Nana! (She also makes amazing chocolate cakes!)




6. We got new laptops at work this week. I'm trying to be positive here and find the thankful, because so far, there have been more problems with them than benefits, but I am putting on my big girl pants and telling myself it's going to change my life in magical (not demonic, which is where we are now) ways.

7. I'm thankful my boss is most excellent at finding grants that help us get such things as new toys, equipment, and (possibly demonic) laptops.

8. I attended the honor society induction of one of my college student workers as her surrogate mom, since her family lives too far away to come. I was deeply honored to be asked and so proud of her hard work!

9. We journeyed to Tulsa this weekend, so I could attend my niece's wedding shower. The shower was fun and was held in an amazing home overlooking the city. I'm looking forward to the wedding in April!

My mother in law, sister in law, niece,
and me. 



10. As fun as it is to get away for a weekend, it sure is nice to be home again. I love my bed.

If you weren't able to join the Ten Things of Thankful THIS weekend, there is always room for you next weekend and the one after and the one after and....

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Sunday, February 12, 2023

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

I took a gamble waiting this late to write my Ten Things of Thankful this week, but I was waiting for a little football game to be over before I wrote it. And it's over. And here's my list:

CHIEFS WIN THE SUPER BOWL 38-35! This born and raised in Kansas City girl couldn't be happier about that! 





I still fully believe my little nugs were HEAVILY responsible for the win, as we have spent the past two weeks doing football drills (totally made up by me) to help the Chiefs win AND IT WORKED.

In other news:

I may have forgotten to mention last weekend that my daughter turned 24. She is currently knocking it out of the park in law school, interning at the US Attorney's office (an eye-opening experience!), and has a 4-legged roommate named Calvin, also known as my grandcat. I think she's pretty darn neat.


My daughter, or rather, Calvin found a bat in my daughter's apartment last weekend. It was in a closet that has had a large opening in the dry wall up near the ceiling around some pipes and conduit (her apartment is in the attic of a two-story house). She had a friend visiting who carried it out of the apartment and set it free down the street, where it promptly flew right back towards her house, but so far has not found his way back in (it had made its way into a plastic bag after Calvin entered the closet, which is another thankful, because it sure made it easier for Finn to get it out of there).

Calvin did not seem to have made close enough contact to be bitten by the bat (although he tried his darnedest), but my daughter took him to the vet to get a little onceover and an updated rabies vaccine, just in case.

The valentine gift I was having my nugs make for their parents was a TOTAL AND COMPLETE fail, but I have chosen to let it go and not stress over it. I have a simple (but adorable) back up project that will do just fine and I wish I had thought to take a photo of it to show you.

My friends Julie and Nikki and I had a tea party at my house on Saturday (hats mandatory). We sampled different teas that Julie brought back from a visit to Boston and were kinds that were served (and dumped into the harbor) during the Boston Tea Party. One of them even TASTED like it had been around since the Boston Tea Party. 






THE TULIPS ARE COMING UP! SPRING IS NEAR!




Did I mention the Chiefs won the Super Bowl...?

I'm beat! If you haven't joined the hop yet, there's still a wee little bit of time to do so!

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Sunday, February 5, 2023

This One Includes Snow Days

 Well, hey, it's time for a Ten Things of Thankful post already! Let's do this!

1. I was pretty bummed this time last week because we didn't get a snow day when we were all pretty sure we would. The Weather gods heard my whining, and we not only got a snow day this week, we got TWO!

That's not snow; it's sleet


2. The Chiefs won the AFC Championship and are Super Bowl bound!

3. This is really a thankful from the Chiefs (they just don't know it), but I had my little nugs do "football drills" (stuff I totally made up and TOLD them were real football drills) the Friday before the game to help the Chiefs win. Obviously, it worked. You should see my little 2 and 3 year olds hustling with a pretend football tucked under their arms! We ran around cones, jumped over lines, threw a football into a soccer net, jumped up to catch pretend passes. We will be working overtime this week to help the Chiefs get the W on Sunday!

Super Bowl Team Captains


4. We had a going away party for friend and co-worker Manda who is off to a new adventure. I am sad that she's leaving us, but I am thankful for having worked with her and that she will continue to be my friend.

5. I'm thankful for fresh raspberries in the middle of the winter.

6. My husband and I carried a decrepit recliner downstairs from our bedroom and out to the car to be thrown away AND carried a new-to-us recliner from the car up the stairs to our room and NO ONE GOT MAD AND NO ONE GOT HURT. By the way, if you didn't know the back of a recliner pulls completely off, you need to know that before you move one, but be aware the bottom half is somehow heavier on its own than the whole thing is put together and I don't know how to explain that but just know it's true.

7. I'm thankful for forgotten Christmas candy found tucked away in a closet.

8. After bitter cold temperatures and enough sleet and ice to close schools for two days, I am EXTREMELY grateful that today was 60 degrees and I was able to open the windows for a bit.

9. Lewis says to tell you HE is also extemely grateful the windows were open, because he likes nothing better than lying in a windowsill and breathing in the fresh air.

10. I found a live feed on YouTube this week of a bird feeder in Akron, Ohio, and we have been watching it after breakfast at school. My kids have been SO EXCITED about seeing the different birds and have learned to identify blue jays and cardinals (both male and female) from it. We are working on learning mourning doves, starlings, red winged blackbirds, and finches (my mother was a member of the Junior Audubon Society when she was a girl, so I know my local birds, thank you very much, and no, I don't live in Ohio, but we have the same birds here). 

I hope you can find thankfuls in goofy things like doing pretend football drills or knowing a recliner breaks down into two pieces BEFORE you have to move one or eating a box of Good and Plenty candy even though you know you will regret it later.

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