Then and now

I did this quiz twice answering like I would have in High School:

You Are 56% Shy

Although you live a pretty normal life, you tend to be a fairly shy person. Many situations make you feel uncomfortable, and you sometimes find your shyness hindering your life.

How Shy Are You?

And answering like now:

You Are 24% Shy

You are slightly shy, but overall, your reactions to social situations are normal. You dread difficult social situations, but you still handle them with grace.

How Shy Are You?

A bigger change than I expected.

Let's Say Thanks

With both of us coming from military families, and having a nephew getting ready for deployment, this just touched my heart.

If you go to this web site, LetsSayThanks.com , you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a some person that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services. How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! This is a great site. Please send a card. It is FREE and it only takes a second.

My passion

I was reminded by God this week of my mission and my passion. And if you remind me I will write out a post describing my experience and the mission God gave me several years ago. But right now I am swimming amidst lesson plans and school supplies.

Busy, busy, busy,

That has been the story of my life for the last week. However, I am amazingly blessed to be working with such a Spirit filled group of ladies. I mean, when we start our day off with prayer, it is one of the most moving experiences I have experienced. And we get to do this on a daily basis. That is what is so awesome! In my last school, we started the day with prayer, but they were rote prayers. It was just something that was done because it was the thing to do. Here is something else. These prayers aren't just limited to school and the things there either. They take on the heart of the individual praying. I am truly blessed. I also have gotten more done than I ever imagined I could the first week back.

Tackle It Tuesday

I have not done one of these for a couple of weeks. Mainly because my life has taken a sudden turn for the busy. I have started back to work and am now having to organize a classroom, get ready for a school year and keep a household running at the same time. So my Tacke it Tuedays will take on a new theme in the coming weeks.

For this week it is:

• Unloading my teaching stuff from the two shelves full, and I mean FULL, from our storage building.

• Going through stuff and getting rid of the JUNK, that was something I didn't do when I put them in there.
  

• Deciding what is needed for Kindergarten and what is First Grade.
  

• Packing up things in separate boxes.

• Storing First Grade things.
  

• Taking Kindergarten things to school
  

I can't believe I am this tired

..... no wait yes I can.

Today I have:

·····spent 8 hours in and around my classroom
··········bulletin boards are up
··········books are found
··········most of the furniture located for my classroom

·····spent 3 hours tutoring at Sylvan

·····gone to the bank

·····eaten supper

·····taken 3 kids to the grocery store
···············that deserves a medal in itself

·····put up purchased groceries

·····done bed routines, including stories and prayers, for all 3 kids


more news tomorrow....hopefully.....

Works For Me Wednesday

~ Oatmeal ~

We have switched from instant oatmeal to the regular cooked kind for several reasons; price and natrual ingredients are just two of them. It was hard to make the change intially. And it wasn't just the kids balking at it. It was me. I couldn't stand the bland oatmeal taste and it was hard to get over the texture of it, too. Don't ask me how it was different I couldn't tell you, but it was. Well after several tries my husband successfully got me to try and several more tries later, actually like regular oatmeal. I couldn't tell you how the texture issue worked itself out but I can tell you about the taste issue.

We make our own flavored oatmeal! Our favorite right now is apple cinnamon. (incedentally the favorite instant oatmeal as well). It is easily accomplished too. When I boil the water for the oatmeal I replace 1/3 to 1/2 of it with 100% apple juice concentrate. When I measure out the oatmeal to cook, I add 1 tsp to 1 Tbsp of cinnamon - this depends on how many I am making for. As the oatmeal is cooking I prepare the bowls. I slice and finely chop apples on the bottom of the each bowl. When the oatmeal is ready I ladle a serving in each bowl (not that my oatmeal is that runny it is just an easy way to serve and I don't have complaints that "s/he got more than me".) Top each bowl with a heaping tablespoon of brown sugar and a generous splash of milk and they are ready to go.

I am going to try banana nut next, well for the kids anyway. Banana is one fruit I CAN'T STAND!

For more great ideas see Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer