MCCI Finals

Allen competed in his MCCI finals last night out in Gates. The boys all did great and we parents did a lot of cheering and hollering! Very exciting meet!

Cool Website

This is a very cool website. Every educator out there should take a look at it.

Thinkfinity

Calling all creative people!

Help! I need to create a newsletter for a fictitious library. I'm having a hard time thinking up a creative name for it. Does anyone out there have any ideas? "The Library Gazette" is just soooo boring!

Snowy Birdhouse

Feeling a bit better. Of course I'm not giving up on my grad work. I'm almost done and I'll get through it somehow. I have to "just do it."
Here's the bird house my father made me. He never got to see it in person after I decorated it with the tools, but I showed him a picture on my digital camera when he had just come home on hospice. He liked it. I think it looks great in the snow. Tomorrow is a day of concentrating on schoolwork and nothing else!

Allen had another swim meet tonight and did awesome on his 500 yd freestyle race! His best time yet. He may have made sectionals. We have to wait and see. It was very exciting! I never imagined I would have such a competitive swimmer for a kid!

Thanks for all of your encouraging words. Gotta go finish Ender's Game, which is turning out to be quite a good book. I'm not usually a science fiction fan, but this book has captured me.

School has started

This past week school started up for me. I already wrote a 3 page essay. I've also read 3 YA novels (The Outsiders, Hotlanta, and Gossip Girl) and started a 4th (Ender's Game). I feel like I have knots in my stomach and am sure that I can't get everything accomplished on time. I have other things on my mind too...like my kids, my mom, money, the job market, and some other concerns. I fell less upbeat than I did a year ago. Maybe it's just these past few months and how hard they have been. I guess must be honest and admit that I'm feeling a bit depressed.

Love is...

Do you remember these little cartoons created by Kim Casali from the 1970s? I used to have whole collection of these. I found this one and a few others glued inside the cover and pages of an old diary from junior high.I thought about them today and looked around on the internet to see if I could find some more. They were so cute!

I've been working on a paper for my YA lit class: a flashback to my teen years. We are supposed to try to remember what it was like being a teen and write about it. After reading a few of my diaries, I think I was the typical teen girl who had her head in the clouds half the time and was a bit lonely.My diaries sound an awful lot like my daughter Audra. Who knew?

Swim Meet

I took the camera to Allen's swim meet the other day. I got some really nice shots. This is Allen with two of his best buddies, Sam and Eric.
Allen swimming the 500. He got a personal best on Saturday for this event.
His team. Don't ask me what those boys are doing in the foreground. I think they were actually horsing around when I took it. This was at the end of the meet. They had won!
Allen...zoning out while his coach is talking to them. LOL!

New Cam

I got my new camera today. I have nothing exciting to take a picture of. I walked around snapping pictures in different settings and modes to try it out. I've deleted most of them. I still need to get a memory stick for it. This snap touched my heart just because my father being in the background. He looks like he's looking down in love on his grandchildren.

Balmy at 20° F

After having temperatures in the single digits for several days in a row, it actually felt balmy today at a whopping 20°. That is...until I decided to take a winter walk with the dog. We lasted a half an hour. You know it's cold when your dog refuses to put all four feet down on the ground at once.
I took along my camera (still the old one...which takes excellent pictures outside) and snapped a few pictures just for fun. My new camera should arrive in a few days.
There are Christmas tree carcasses all over town. I counted 12 laying on the ground when I drove my son to school on Saturday morning for swim practice (and that was only after thinking of the idea to count them). I'm planning on taking ours down today too.Yesterday, I went to see my mother. I was amazed at how much more snow that she and both of my sisters have on the ground in their towns. Mom and my nephew Dave were surprised when I told them we could still see blades of grass through the snow in Canandaigua. I wish I had my camera with me yesterday to show you the difference.More snow fell overnight...which has essentially covered all the little blades of grass poking through here and there. Here is one of the sidewalks downtown. I can't work my camera very well with gloves on. My hand was so frozen after the above picture that I swore it would be absolutely the last one I took.
However, I couldn't resist taking a picture of this happy fella. He just thrives in the cold!

Happy New Year!

Another year has come and gone. I have not made any profound resolutions or anything. I just hope to steadily keep the faith while navigating life's path. We went to Ovid for New Years. We ate far too much junk food and stayed up far too late, but it was great to see family. Jamie's cousin was up from Florida with her daughter. They are not used to snow and were amazed by the few inches we got. We had fun playing games and laughing so hard that tears came to our eyes.

Good news: I ordered a new camera. I am anxiously awaiting its arrival...which should be some time this coming week. I ordered a Sony Cybershot H20, after researching cameras withing my price range for about 2 weeks. I used a camera with a broken flash for way too long!

Bad news: My swimmer has a terrible cold and is miserable. He forced himself to go to practice today since he hadn't swam since Wednesday's meet. Jamie is also feeling under the weather.

Neutral news: School starts for me on January 10th. I will be traveling to Buffalo on Tuesday nights.

(We don't have as much snow as the picture shows. The picture is from last year)

Merry Christmas!

Alicia made this little nativity set out of Sculpey Polymer Clay for me. Her father helped her bake it one day while I was out. Isn't it adorable? I love it! Click on photo to see more detail! Merry Christmas to all of you!

Sparkle

Thought you might like to see some ornaments we made at the Sparkle Festival in Corning, NY. Unfortunately, we did not go this year. These ornaments are from past Christmas seasons. Audra made the ornament above with a little help from some glass blowers in 2006.
That same year, Alicia made the snowman.
Allen made the Christmas tree.
The girls and I went again in 2008. We noticed that no one was making any ornaments having to do with the real meaning of Christmas. So Audra made an angel.
Alicia made the three wisemen...
and I made the manger scene. If you haven't gone to the Sparkle Festival at Corning Glassworks, I highly recommend that you go. It's too late this year...but next year, check it out! These ornaments will always be special to us.

Birthday Lunch

On Wednesday it was my birthday. I never got a chance to do anything special at all, but today my husband took the day off from work. We went out to do a little shopping this morning and then went out for lunch at the Rheinblick. Here is a picture of my mulled Christmas wine called Glüwein and Jamie's beer (Paulaner). For lunch I had Hackfleischsosse and Jamie had the Schweinebrat Brötchen. It was all absolutely delicious! Oh...I almost forgot, for dessert I had the Bienestitch (bee sting cake). Jamie had an Apfelstrudel (apple strudel).

Crazy Days!

I just checked the thermometer and it's 4° outside right now!
It has been crazy here with barely time to catch a breath. I don't like that. I prefer a little down time...but it's not happening. Yesterday started out with going to my Bible study, then a quick trip to our insurance office, then home to work on a "secret project" (can't write it here in case one of my kids reads it), then to the DMV office, home with more "secret project" working, quick hiding of evidence before a school bus came, running off to a swim meet, home at 7 PM to cook a quick meal, and shortly thereafter to bed. Today I took kids to school, went to my job cleaning a house, ran few errands, stopped at the library, home for a quick shower, and was cooking dinner when my husband called to tell me the high school swim coach had called him and Allen was ill. They were actually calling an ambulance just in case. I totally freaked out! Jamie went up to the school and called to say Allen was okay and coming home. Apparently he had not had enough to eat. His blood sugar level was way low and they were giving him juices and stuff to get him going. He came home just as I was running out the door to Alicia's orchestra concert. Jamie stayed home with Allen to make sure he as okay.
Now I'm home...and planning on making Allen a BIG lunch to take to school tomorrow. I wish I had pictures of the concert...but I am still working with a camera that has a broken flash.

Enjoying the Season!

It is Christmas season and I'm getting more excited about it. I'm getting a little shopping done. Just a bit at a time and it is starting to look like I am going to accomplish it after all. I took Alicia out shopping and then, a few days later, I took Audra. It was nice to spend a little time with each of my girls individually. Tonight Allen had 5 of his friends over to play board games. So...we had 6 boys ages 14 & 15 in the house. We went through quite a bit of food this evening. I really enjoyed having them over. They are a nice group of kids. I think they all had fun. I wanted to take pictures so I could put it on my blog...but somehow I got the feeling that that would just be a really uncool thing to do, so I refrained. Alicia stayed over night at a friend's house. Jamie, Audra and I stayed in the family room and watched a movie (The Polar Express) while the boys monopolized the living room with Apples to Apples and The Settlers of Catan.

Our Town is White!

Windy and bitter cold lately.I took these pics on the way home from dropping off Alicia at school this morning. The white stuff arrived yesterday and today...and a little bit on Wednesday too.
Too early to shop...so these pedestrians probably are either on their way to work, or to the bank.
A street in my neighborhood.
Finally, my humble abode where a hot cup of coffee and my slippers await.

Not going to get away with it....

I thought I'd cheat and use a picture from last year, but I realize I'm not going to get away with it because there is white stuff in it. We have not had any snow other than a dusting so far this year. Other than the white stuff...the town's pavilion is decorated like this again. And other than no white stuff, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. My own home is decorated as much as it is going to be this year and I have a little shopping done, but not much. I went out and about on Friday...but I was not feeling well, so I cut it short. I have a terrible cold. Audra was home with the flu for almost the entire week. This fall has been a terrible trial of illnesses so far.

Thank you, Lord.

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. I am grateful for such a wonderful family. We all missed Dad this year...but we know he is in a better place now. The food as usual, was delicious...and I ate too much.
After gorging on turkey, dressing, yams, corn casserole...etc., we hung out. The teens and young people played a game. The traditional jigsaw puzzle was worked on. It was good just to be together.

Is it Thanksgiving yet?

Like this picture? Allen took it this summer. Thought I'd use it...because I like pictures on my posts and I have nothing in my pics that have anything to do with today's entry.

It was a beautiful day...and I did not go out and enjoy it. I cleaned a dentist office and then did some errands on the way home. I needed to buy carrots for the turkey soup I'm making with the leftovers from the turkey I roasted on Friday. Am I confused about the date? No...I realize that Thursday is Thanksgiving and that I will be eating turkey. I will be going to Martha's house. There will be many people there and I will not get any leftovers. Almost everything will be eaten up on Thursday and whatever is left...Martha will get. That is only fair since she roasted and hosted. I like leftover turkey...so I took it upon myself to roast a turkey of my own on Friday. I did not wait until next week to do it...because Jamie is going to France.
(Again...nothing to do with today's post. A picture of us on Mount Cardigan in New Hampshire)
So I made soup, mopped my kitchen floor, dozed off while reading, watched Arthur with my daughter, ran to the store to buy bread since I was too lazy to bake my own...and I am now sitting and waiting for my son and hubby to come home so we can eat! The smell is driving me crazy because I am hungry!

Just another Saturday

More chronicling of my exciting life.
It's just another Saturday in our amazing household. Audra practiced tickling the ivories. They giggled quite nicely.
Allen went to swim practice at the high school and then came home and proceeded to make plans with friends. I was a very mean mother and made him do some homework before he took off.
Alicia and I baked peanut butter fingers. Tonight...I will be home alone. Alicia is staying over night at a friend's house. Jamie is working on our car over at Roy's house. Audra went to Abby's. Allen is hanging with Sam and Jacob. Maybe Sherman and I will take in a movie or....read, what else?

Obstacles and Bends in the Road of Life

I am really anxious now to get back to my grad work. I'm almost done...only two more courses and then my school internship. As many of you readers know (all 2 of you), I had to stop my studies because of my father's illness. None of us expected him to go so fast. I spent the day with Mom. I really miss Dad. I had a dream about him last night. I don't remember any of the details of my dream, just that he was in it. At Mom's, I just had to check to see if his coat was still hanging on the hook in the laundry room. It was. Along with his hat and sweater vest. Somehow that makes me feel good. I like seeing them there.

I just hope there are no more unexpected bends in the road for a while. There is good news! I can do my secondary level practicum with the same librarian that I was originally going to do it with. I wasn't sure if I could because she talked about retiring some day on her blog and that worried me a little.
Even though I am anxious about getting back to my studies, I am also strangely nervous about it.

On to the next thing

We had a rough week, but God is good. Allen came down with the flu on Sunday morning, which explained why he was feeling so rotten at his cross country sectionals last Saturday. He missed most of school this week. I was able to communicate with his teachers and get some school work so he didn't fall terribly far behind. The varsity swim team season also started. I sent emails to the coach explaining Allen's situation so that the coach knew Allen was still interested. The coach also said that he would help Allen get into swimming slowly since he was recovering from illness. On Friday he went back to school and went to swim practice.
On Saturday there was a team building exercise with 6 different minivans full of teenage boys driving around town on a scavenger hunt. Jamie was one of the volunteer drivers. The game culminated at a team member's house in town with an obstacle course in the back yard.
I think the boys all had fun and it was a good way to kick off the season. Family members of the team were able to join in with the sharing of a meal.

Sectionals for X-Country

I know this picture is pretty lousy...but it's what I have! Today was a gorgeous day! Warm, sunny...a good day for a race. It was Sectionals for the X Country Teams in the area. Allen did not run his best. He got a bad cramp in the middle of the race. Right behind him is Dominik from Arcadia. Dominik is the son of a close childhood friend of mine...so I was pleased to see him in the same photo. In the end, Dominik came in ahead of Allen...but I think it was only because of the cramp. Next year, Dominik! Next year!And here is a little team building exercise after the racing was done!

h1n1

I'm finally getting around to telling you that the swine flu has come to our house. The school called me on Friday to come and get Alicia because she had a fever of 100.5. That evening the coughing started.
All in all, she had a fairly mild case of it. Between doses of acetaminophen, she happily read or played with her dolls. By yesterday she was bored and I went to the school to get some work for her. Today I "home schooled" her. She is itching to get back to school. She no longer has a fever....but the cough is lingering. I talked to the school nurse today and she agreed that as long as Alicia has not had a fever for a few days she can come back to school in spite of the cough. No one else has caught it besides her. At this point, I think the rest of us will be spared.
These pictures were taken by Allen at the NY State Fair last summer.

My Runner

Get Ready! Get set!
Go! And they're off!
I have not been very good about blogging lately. Sorry. I've been a bit distracted by everything in my life for the past year. School. The death of my father. I'm going to get back on track hopefully. I'll start with a very belated post about my son on our high school's Cross Country team. He had such a great season and it is almost over. Only this week to go. Next week he starts swimming with the varsity swim team.
Go Allen Go!!!!
I have found new inspiration for blogging in my area at Bristolwood. It is a blog that I discovered quite by accident while googling images of the annual Halloween toiletpapering of Cheshire. I know...it sounds strange but check out Gudl's blog too. She's the one that got me started googling for more images! I love all the photos they take of the area we live in. Yeah! More neighbors to get to know!